


Another Chance

by Karezi413



Series: Responsibilites [3]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-24
Updated: 2018-03-20
Packaged: 2019-01-04 20:06:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 24
Words: 42,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12175704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Karezi413/pseuds/Karezi413
Summary: Alternia is split into war, unimaginable consequences are forced onto trollkind, leaving their species to fight for survival. With the help of the humans, they can try to revive their dying species, is it all in vain or is it going to all be worth it?





	1. Introduction

**Author's Note:**

> For the set up of the AU, please make sure you read story "Responsiblities" in the series

“What? Why should I do it?!” Feferi inquired. The trollian females were currently trying to figure out which girl would test for grubs. The human females, John, Kanaya and Feferi had been working on a way to allow trolls to do what humans did reproductively. But they needed a girl to test it. Someone had to make sure it wouldn’t kill the mother, or the grub or, on the extreme side, both. This would also provide an experiment to see how a trollian pregnancy would behave and how long it’d be.

 

They also had to make sure the one carrying the grub would be trustworthy, so one of the core females had to carry the young growing grub. Though none of the females were really up for volunteering to carrying a grub. It didn’t seem quite like something any one of them would enjoy, aside from Kanaya, but she had her own reasons to reject.

 

“Because you’re the future empress, it’d be a message you’re sending.” Kanaya said, giving her a soft smile, rather convinced Feferi would be a good mother. She was kind, caring and always seemed rather happy, she’d make a fantastic mother.

 

“I suppose, and maybe at some point I’d like to try having a grub, but I’m too close to the Condesce. If she found out, who knows what would happen!” Feferi exclaimed, sighing softly. She didn’t like associating herself with the Condesce but there were times she had to. “Besides I’m sure you’d be the best mother of us all, you have a lot of maternal qualities.”

 

“Because,” Kanaya started, taking Rose’s hand, moving back a bit to be beside her. “If I had a grub, I’d want it have it with my beautiful wife.” She smiled at Rose. “Which, for several reasons I can not do.” 

 

“I’d consider having a little kitten, but I don’t know how Equius would react.” Nepeta was pretty sure Equius wouldn’t be happy but he’d support them like any good moirail would. However there was a small chance he wouldn’t handle it well or slip it up. The uncertainty created a reaction she wouldn’t want to risk.

 

“Well I certainly won’t do it, I hate kids.” Vriska snapped out, crossing her arms and turning her head away. She couldn’t stand them, a few times she went out of her way just to step on a grub or two. She’d also eat grubsauce in front of grubs rather obnoxiously as well.

 

“Yeah well no one would trust you with a grub anyway.” Terezi pointed out, grinning. “Speaking of grubs, I think the prime candidate here is obviously Aradia! These wusses have their excuses, and I’m out fighting a war, so I guess good luck Aradia!” Aradia raised a brow to the libra, finding the flaw in her piss poor excuse. 

 

“I don’t think that’s the best idea… I wouldn’t make a very good mother.” Aradia claimed, shaking her head.

 

“Well then who would you recommend?” Terezi asked, they had exhausted their last option. This wasn’t a good time to figure out this sort of thing, everyone had things going on, none of them could really just drop it all and have a grub.

 

“Honestly? Probably Kanaya or you.” Aradia didn’t really want Kanaya to be forced to make a grub with someone though. Aradia could understand her feelings relatively well. “Come on Terezi, you could raise a grub pretty well, I’ve seen you take care of your scalemate.” Terezi raised a questioning brow at this comment.

 

“You mean the ones I hang?” She asked, a mischievous smirk on her face. “If that’s what you think caring is then I don’t think you should raise  _ anything _ Aradia!” Aradia rolled her eyes, shaking her head.

 

“No, I meant your white one, Pyralspite. He’s like a little grub to you.” This made Terezi stop to think for a moment. She did probably “mother” it a bit more than she should’ve, but why would a grub be like that to her.

 

“But I’m fighting in the war, I’m a rather crucial element at that. I’ve orchestrated a large spy network. I can’t just drop that!” Terezi wasn’t sold on doing this mothering thing, in fact she had pretty much convinced herself at this point that she’d be the worst mother of the group, aside from Vriska of course.

 

“Oh come on, Sollux or I could take that over, we’re both pretty sneaky.” She wasn’t sure why Terezi had been put ahead of that aspect though, Terezi herself wasn’t sneaky at all, in fact she’d scream down the hall she was in like it was no one’s business.

 

“Well…” Feferi interjected. “You do have some pretty wide hips Terezi.” She blinked before looking at the seadweller.

 

“What? What does that have to do with anything?” She enjoyed the compliment, but it wasn’t much of a compliment, or much of anything other than a statement.

 

“The humans told me that when the grub is coming, a woman with wider hips would have an easier time birthing. They also talked about lactation as if they only lactate after they have a weird human baby.” Jade blinked when she heard that.

 

“What? Only? Trolls lactate, I guess at all?” Terezi scoffed at her lack of knowledge in this sort of thing.

 

“Most females lactate anytime after puberty. Most lowerbloods lactate while in higherbloods, it’s rarer. Aside from the royalbloods.” Feferi gave a slight nod.

 

“So which one of you don’t lactate?” Rose asked. “That could make this an easier argument.” Nepeta looked around before sighing.

 

“I don’t. I’m surprised everyone else above me lactates anyway.” Nepeta admitted, looking away. Terezi shrugged while Vriska scoffed stubbornly.

 

“So It’s me, Terezi, or Aradia” Kanaya stopped when she looked at Vriska, she wouldn’t trust her with a grub either. “Can one of you please just figure this out? I’m sure both of you would make excellent mothers.” Kanaya remarked, offering a gentle smile.

 

“...Fine, I’ll do it.” She looked over towards the kitchen, Karkat and the other men were there, waiting this out. She wasn’t sure what he’d do when he found out he would father this experiment, and honestly if he didn’t want to, that’d be well and fine, she was a strong woman, she could figure this out on her own. “So, how exactly do I do this?” She asked, turning back to the girls. Jade smiled kindly, pulling a needle from her sylladex. Terezi blinked when she saw it, along with the pink fluid it came with.

 

“When we were looking at it in the lab, we found out troll females have the same systems and organs as humans, but it’s used in a different way. When you, orgasm, your egg descends quickly into the slurry to get fertilized. This shot will make your trollian ovaries drop an egg now, and if your egg fertilizes, your body should hold onto it and pregnate you. Otherwise your egg will be released in a bloody stream.” Terezi’s face scrunched up, instantly regretting her kindness.

 

“You know, we might have enough hormones in this thing for two. Maybe both of you should do it! It’d be double the data, no two pregnancies are the same!” Jade said, grinning at the both of them.

 

“And there’s no excuse for you both to not do so.” Kanaya said, watching both of them.

 

“Okay okay!” Aradia agreed. “I guess, it might not be so bad.”

 

“Ugh okay fine, inject me, let’s get this over with.” Jade nodded and rolled Terezi’s shirt up a bit, moving and injecting her near the hip. 

 

“Sorry, I have to hit near the ovaries.” She pushed in half of the hormones, slowly pulling out the needle.

 

“Woah that’s kind of odd feeling.” Terezi commented, her injected ovary feeling a bit tingly from the sudden new hormones entering her system.

 

“Yeah, well it’s a new substance in your body. But if I did this right, your ovary should’ve released the egg on injection, so I’d recommend getting fertilized. Especially since I think the others will be leaving once you and Karkat have, you know.” Terezi nodded, dropping her shirt and looking to the kitchen. “Come on Aradia, shirt up.” Jade instructed, injecting Aradia with the needle and pushing in the rest of the hormones. “Be hopeful Terezi doesn’t have any infectious disease she’s passing on to you.”

 

“Hey! I don’t have anything!” Terezi replied, huffing a little.

 

“So, uh who is gonna help me make a grub..?” Aradia asked, looking down, glancing up at them.

 

“Oh…” No one had really accounted that Aradia wasn’t with anyone, and would have to make a grub with someone she more than likely didn’t like. “Well what about… Tavros, or Sollux?” Rose suggested, watching her. Aradia thought it over.

 

“Well, of the two, I might pick Sollux, we have had our time together… It wouldn’t be new I suppose…” She glanced at Feferi who quieted down. “If that’s okay, Feferi?”

 

“I… suppose. Just don’t have, too much fin okay?” She said, trying to not be too upset over this.

 

“Don’t worry, this will just be about making a grub.” Aradia assured, smiling at her.

 

“Wait, wait, how do we even know either of the guys will agree?” Terezi asked, curious. “I mean, again, I help Karkat out with a lot, he might not be too keen on me doing this!”

 

“Well he’ll have something more to fight for.” Jade said, smiling. “Besides, this is just as important! Without all this, your species will die out, arguably more important than this war.” Terezi nodded, heading to the kitchen and leaning on the doorframe.

 

“And I’m telling you it was so fucking-” Karkat continued until he noticed the other guys looking up behind him. He soon turned around to see his matesprit standing there.

 

“Hey Pyrope. What did you and the others decide on?” She looked at him, moving closer.

 

“I’m going to… carry a grub and hopefully birth it out. And...” The men had been given a small briefing on what would happen from John when they all separated out. Aradia came into the room, smiling. “So is Aradia.” 

 

“So” He got up, turning to her. “You want me to impregnate you, and then you stay here while I’m gone? Lame ass way to do this but whatever.” She frowned when he said that, sighing out. 

 

“I know I know. It’s really fucking stupid but we’re pretty much the only ones who can do it, and this way they can collect more data on the process.” Karkat continued to draw closer to her, he moved and lifted her over his shoulder without another word. “Oh, okay if you’re so willing right now.” Terezi muttered out as Karkat carried her a bit further.

 

“Aradia you can use the study.” He instructed before carrying her into his room.

 

“So… Who are you planning on having a grub with?” Sollux asked as he leaned against the back door.

 

“Uh… Well…” She didn’t really know how to tell him she wanted his grub.

 

“We, all think you’d be the best candidate, Sollux.” Feferi told him, leaning up to peck his cheek. He raised a brow.

 

“Me? Not KK or Tavros?” 

 

“You expect Karkat to father two children? My glub Sollux! She just thinks it’d be easier considering you two have, done it before.” He shrugged at the reasoning.

 

“Okay. Then, I suppose shall we go?” He asked her, coming closer before leading her off to the study.

 

In a short amount of time, Karkat exited the room, adjusting the belt around his waist. He looked around before heading over to the kitchen, seeing that everyone had accumulated in there. Jade got up from the floor, she had been leaning against the cabinets while they waited.

 

“How is she?” She asked, making note that he had come back alone.

 

“She’s fine. She’s just sleeping.” She smiled, going to check on Terezi.

 

“Should we be going then?” Sollux asked, getting up. Karkat nodded at him.

 

“Did Nepeta and Feferi leave already?” He asked, noticing both were gone.

 

“Feferi couldn’t be here long or someone would catch on. Nepeta didn’t want Equius to find out we were here.” Aradia replied, drinking something from a cup. Karkat wondered what it was or where she got it from, he didn’t remember giving her it. However he decided to not press questions on it.

 

“Is it going to be alright leaving these two alone here?” Kanaya asked, as she and Tavros got up, preparing to leave, Vriska remaining seated for a bit longer.

 

“The humans will be here for another hour or two, they’ll be fine with them.” Karkat replied, getting the rest of his stuff together. “Right, Aradia?” She nodded in reply.

 

“We’ll be fine, we’re both strong enough to handle ourselves.”

 

“I meant for the next however long until we return.” Vriska now got up, pulling on her jacket.

 

“My scourge sister can handle herself. There’s no need to worry about her. Now Aradia on the other hand...” Aradia slapped the back of her head, Karkat nodding.

 

“She’s right. Terezi will be fine, and so will Aradia.” Kanaya moved to give Rose a goodbye kiss, smiling at her softly before moving to whisper in her ear.

 

“Hopefully I won’t be gone for long. And when I return, maybe you can finally come stay with me.” She said, holding back a few tears and hugging her. Karkat frowned as he watched, remembering for a moment he had started all this for a man he wasn’t even with anymore. He shook off the feeling, sighing out as he proceeded with the goodbyes they gave to Rose, John and Dave. By the time Jade came out of the room, they were all gone, with just Aradia left.

 

Jade gave Aradia a notebook to fill out the symptoms and write when she recorded it down. “And, why do we need to record this stuff anyway?” Aradia inquired, flipping through the pages of the notebook.

 

“Because then we can start what’s average for a troll pregnancy, it’ll probably be the same as humans, but there could be some differences that would be useful to know. Like, it could be shorter or longer. Or you could have some weird symptoms like vomiting blood up or something, I don’t know!” Aradia grimaced at the last one, but nodded.

 

“Alright, I suppose you’re right. I’ll do the best I can! I’ll try to, fill Terezi in on it too.” Aradia said, smiling.

 

“I already left her a message about it, don’t worry.” Jade informed.

 

“Oh, I brought this list.” Rose handed Aradia a list as she spoke. “It’s a bunch of stuff we humans aren’t allowed to have when pregnant, such as caffeine, smoking, all sorts of things.” Aradia glanced over the list, turning the page over before realizing there was a second page. “And that page is full of activities you should be careful with.” She added.

 

It wasn’t long before Aradia was bidding goodbye to the humans, heading back in the hive, looking around. She’d have to wait for Terezi to wake up before she could decide on living arrangements. Currently she was living in a hive of a recently culled troll since her original hive had been destroyed long ago. It was a small hive, but with no one occupying it, it was amazing it hadn’t been destroyed yet.

 

Terezi groaned out, turning over on her side, squirming a bit more as she tried to get back to being comfortable. After a few minutes of flipping over and fidgeting for comfort, she finally got up, due to being unable to get comfortable. She rubbed her eyes, groaning out softly as she sat up. She moved to hang her legs off the bed, noticing a few notes on top of each other, as well as a small notebook. She picked up the top one, starting to read the note Karkat left her. 

 

_ Pyrope. I know you wanted to help me out when I needed it. But I know you have things you need to do. And I have things I’ll have to do. I know it’ll be hard to change shit, and I have no clue what you really have to do, so it’s probably not as bad or hard. The humans are going on and on about some bullshit and how this is “just as hard” for you. Bullshit right? You just have to push a tiny grub out of you. Like hell that can be hard.  _

 

_ Anyway, if things continue as planned, we’ll be back soon, and you and I can, who fucking knows, raise a child or something? Well you can stay in my hive, hell knows I won’t use it. I’ll be sending someone to protect you in the next few days. I know you won’t want someone guarding you, but you’re really fucking valuable in this war. That and Jade says you’re gonna get big and won’t be able to defend yourself when you’re, something something something. It’s a precaution. _

 

_ So, see ya, Pyrope ♡ ~Karkat _

Terezi groaned out and rolled her eyes, tossing the note aside. She was certain she wouldn’t need anyone to guard her. She was strong, she could protect herself. She moved to take up the next note, realizing it was taped to the notebook, picking both up, reading it.

 

_ Hi Terezi! You’re still asleep, but we’re leaving so I thought I’d leave you instructions! If we’re lucky, you should be getting pregnant in a few days. We’re starting from square one with troll pregnancy though. So please, write down symptoms you feel, like sickness or other things! :D I’d say this should only last 9 months, but I’m not sure if it’ll be different for trolls. When you feel a different feeling, make sure to record it in this notebook! Then when we come and visit again I’ll give you more instructions and a test to see if it all works! See you in a month!! _

_ ~ Jade!! :D _

Terezi looked at the notebook, raising and brow and shrugging. It seemed like it’d be easy enough to do. She sat up and groaned, slowly raising to her feet and dressing herself. She rolled her eyes when she noticed Karkat had torn the sleeve and shoulder off one side of her tee. She pulled it on, looking at herself in the mirror for a moment. She shrugged at the look before heading out, fixing her hair the best she could for just running her hands through it. 

 

“Hey Terezi.” Aradia greeted, sitting at Karkat’s desk, looking through her own husktop. She scratched her head, approaching Aradia. 

 

“So they left huh?” She asked, sitting on Karkat’s couch.

 

“Yeah, they left us to handle this mess on our own.” Aradia replied, smiling. “But I bet it’ll be fun!”


	2. Without

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karkat tries to cope without his matesprit behind him

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've decided for this series I'll have this as the main story with chapters and such; an then just a few side stories in the series itself, separate from this

Sollux knocked on Karkat’s door as he opened it, looking at the troll who sat at the desk, head in his hands. “KK.” He spoke, Karkat looking up at him. 

 

“What is it now Sollux? I’m very busy.” He moved his hands away, shaking off a bit of hair.

 

“Come eat dinner with us.” Sollux instructed, drawing closer.

 

“Yeah, I’ll pass. I have way too much work to do. I have to decide where to move the base, I have to still decide on some shithead to go look after the girls, and I also have to get through all these fucking report.” Karkat was insistent about moving the hideout every few weeks, staying in one place would draw locals’ attention, and eventually the drones would be all over them. He also insisted on getting reports from each of the fraction heads, along with their subheads who were spread further in the networks. 

 

“Kanaya said you have to come tonight. She said you’ve been working through dinner the past week, you realize this kind of stress can’t be good right?” In all honesty, Sollux cared deeply about Karkat, and since Aradia and Terezi had split off two weeks ago, Karkat was getting more stressed out.

 

“Bullshit, I just need to get used to being a bit higher strung. Did any of you think I’d get used to this change fast? Not only am I missing a great stress relief, but I miss that bitch, and to top that off, I’m worried that something could’ve happened in the time I should’ve sent someone there! To make the fucking matter worst, who’s to say that the one I send to keep watch won’t double cross me, or fail?!” Sollux rolled his eyes and came closer to Karkat, taking his arm and pulling him from the chair, yanking him towards the door.

 

“I can understand and help with that, but not while Kanaya stands by, probably getting angry over dinner. Now hurry up.” Karkat huffed and stumbled, catching his footing and following him, growling a bit.

 

“Can’t you fuckers let me work in peace?!” He shouted, glaring at Sollux.

 

“After dinner, sure.” It wasn’t long before they entered the dining area of their current structure, and Kanaya sat at a table nearby, awaiting the duo. The room itself was divided into a place to cook and a place to sit. There were no real set dining times, but the kitchen and the food snuck in by the heiress were open to those fighting for this cause. Kanaya however was known to feed some trolls who were so skilled at cooking or for those who simply did not have the time. 

 

Sollux brought Karkat to Kanaya, sitting down and pulling the shorter male down to sit with them. Before them was an array of vegetables, along with some tea, not that spectacular of a meal, but a meal nonetheless. “Karkat, I’m glad to finally see you again.” Kanaya spoke, nodding slightly at him.

 

“I don’t think I should be here. There’s still a metric fuckton of things to still do!” He said, getting back up, prompting Sollux to pull him back down casually. 

 

“But eating is important Karkat. I’ve picked foods to help reduce the amount of stress you deal with. I’m sure if you ate some and actually got proper sleep you’d feel a lot less stressed.” She pushed some of the food to Karkat, fixing up a plate for Sollux as well. “It’ll only take half an hour at most anyway.” She took a moment to pour some tea and offer it to both of them.

 

“Call me crazy but I don’t drink that liquified shit.” Karkat said, begrudgingly starting to eat the food, it wasn’t like he was hungry anyway.

 

“Very well. How has the progress been going then?” She asked as she took a sip of her tea.

 

“Too slow. I’m spending way too fucking long thinking things over, trying to formulate a whole bunch of bullshit, along with dealing with shitbags making me step away and taking even longer doing this.” Sollux glared lightly at him, but continued his silence, letting Kanaya talk to him.

 

“Such as?” Kanaya prodded, trying to spark a rant to help him relax.

 

“Well for fucking starters, my schedules are all thrown off, Aradia did quite a bit of secretary work in that department and scheduled some deadlines to motivate me, she scheduled when I would take a short break, she even fucking scheduled when people would come talk to me if they needed my time one on one. Granted it wasn’t often, but damnit! It was useful!” Karkat huffed, shoveling in a few more greens into his mouth.

 

“Go on.” Kanaya urged, eating a bit more as she listened.

 

“Then there’s Terezi! Oh fucking god. She’s not here anymore to remind me to actually eat, and then force me to do so when I reject her. She’s not here to look at me and tell me it’s time to sleep. She’s fucking here to let me let out my pent up stress, what the fucking hell am I supposed to do now? Wait for her to come back after she has that grub? Who knows how damn long that could be!?” Sollux looked away before turning to Karkat.

 

“Kk, you realize that once she has that grub, she still won’t come back, right?” Karkat shifted his eyes to Sollux.

 

“What the hell do you mean by that? She’s tough, she’ll be able to come back when she’s done with all that, she’ll help me kick ass again like we did before. Nothing will change.” Sollux rolled his eyes.

 

“No she won’t. Once she has that grub, she’s going to be spending the time raising it. This isn’t a safe place for a grub you know. She’ll probably stay put and take care of the grub the two of you made.” Karkat sat silently as he heard Sollux speak. He had nearly forgotten what John had told him about mothers bonding with their grubs, during and after pregnancy. In truth, Terezi probably wouldn’t let the grub go to a lusus after she bonded with it, she was as stubborn as the ass she was. 

 

“Right…” He said as he sat there, returning to his silence for a few moments before shaking it off. He didn’t want to think about that right now. He could function normally without her. This wasn’t going to be like it was with Dave where he’d sulk for awhile. Besides, he was still with her, just not in the physical sense.

 

“Would you like to continue anyway Karkat?” Kanaya asked, trying to change the topic.

 

“I, suppose I could…” He didn’t quite feel like it, but it couldn’t hurt to do it anyway. 

 

“Why don’t you tell us how the search is going for the guardian?” Sollux suggested, trying to help him go along with it.

 

“R-right! That stupid, fucking search is going rather pisspoor. Because not only do I have to be able to trust them not to hurt either of the girls, but I also have to trust them with the damn secret that they might lead to the key to save trollkind! Who fucking knows what the Condesce could do with that power! She could end up taking them and using them to pump out only the highest, top grubs! Or she could dissect them! If even a shred of trust is placed where it shouldn’t be, then shit hits the damn fan and we probably lose!” He shouted, suddenly feeling his anger surge back into him at the thought of this. The girls were a huge disadvantage to him in their position. It was for the best that this happen, but they were now much more important to protect.

 

“And how’s the gap Terezi left in her work? I’m sure she left you a lot of additional work, that bitch.” Sollux started, pressing Karkat to continue. Maybe a little bit of remembering that she wasn’t all good would help, it was only a little push after all.

 

“She- Actually, she didn’t leave any work behind. She had been training, whatever her name is, Milara or something to take on her work. And I have to admit -which by the way, bring this up and you’ll be personally mutilated with my own damn claws, then gutted like a fucking fish- that “apprentice training” she was doing was a smart idea. I didn’t think any of that would ever be useful.” Sollux raised a brow but shrugged. He knew the girl, but he just assumed she was a woman Terezi enlisted into her network further down.

 

“Ha, maybe I should get an apprentice.” Karkat rolled his eyes and let out a snort.

 

“Oh yeah? What are they gonna learn from you? How to pester me and distract me from my work?” Sollux glared at him again.

 

“How to decipher and encrypt codes, assbucket.” Karkat rolled his eyes, finishing off his vegetables before getting up.

 

“As much as I’d love to stay and chat, I’d rather get back to work. I think I should finish up a few more things then get a bit of rest to keep you shitstains from worrying too much.” Karkat departed soon, leaving the two to watch him, a small smile curling up on Sollux’s lips.

 

“Thanks for the help Kanaya.” Sollux spoke, nodding slightly in her direction. Kanaya was good for sparking Karkat’s rants, Sollux used this for his advantage to help Karkat out. He could do it himself, but he usually had to put more time into it, something he knew Karkat wouldn’t have time to listen to.

 

“I’m glad I could help, really.” Kanaya assured, gathering up the dirty plates.


	3. Test

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aradia and Terezi take the pregnancy tests so that they can be sure they're carrying grubs.

Jade smiled as she entered Karkat’s hive, Rose beside her, though John and Dave were missing. “Hey you two!” She greeted, hugging both the trolls.

 

“J-Jade! Has it really been a month already?” Aradia questioned, smiling at her.

 

“Yeah! Did it not feel like it?” Aradia shook her head in response but shrugged.

 

“So where’s Dave and John then?” Terezi asked, taking note of their absence.

 

“Well, let’s see, John is looking to move back to his hometown and was busy apartment and job hunting.” Rose started.

 

“And Dave just left for a tour!” Jade finished, smiling. He had grown to mature some of his talents and became a famous musician, known to use a few puppets on stage with him, something he used to remind himself of his brother.

 

“Oh, alright then, I suppose that means a girls day then.” Aradia remarked, smiling. 

 

“Well we brought you two something!” Jade said, pushing on Rose a bit, who pulled out a box of pregnancy sticks.

 

“They’re pregnancy tests, it’ll determine if you’re pregnant or not.” Rose informed as she opened up the box.

 

“Wait, there’s a chance we aren’t? Well then why didn’t we just take them last time?” Terezi asked, thinking it was an obvious choice.

 

“Because it might take up to a week to get pregnant after sex, the sperm does have to find your egg!” Rose handed both of the girls a stick of their own.

 

“Okay and how do we use this?” Aradia asked, looking at it and flipping it over for information.

 

“I bet we stick this covered plastic piece in our nook or something.” Terezi suggested.

 

“Actually, what you’re supposed to do is pull of the plastic and pee on the tip.” Jade told them, earning a grimace from them.

 

“That, is really disgusting.” Aradia stated, observing the stick in a bit more detail, taking note of the little display on it.

 

“Oh, I know.” Rose commented, sympathizing with them. 

 

“But unfortunately there’s something in urine that appears during pregnancy. So who wants to go first?” Jade asked. Terezi snickered and patted Aradia’s back. 

 

“Good luck Aradia!” Terezi said, grinning and taking the test to sit on the couch with her, not quite looking forward to this. Aradia glared at Terezi but rolled her eyes, starting to head to the bathroom.

 

“Alright, I’ll do this first, I’m not scared like you, Terezi.” Aradia remarked, entering the bathroom and closing the door. She set the test on the counter, dropping her skirt and pulling her panties down. She brought the test closer to her, removing the cap as she squirmed over the toilet, hovering over the seat, letting it go as she moved the stick back and forth, trying to make sure she got the urine on the test. In a few moments she brought the test up to make sure she got it, smiling as she had caught it, finishing herself up and setting it on the counter as she cleaned herself up. 

 

After Aradia’s skirt was back up and she finished washed her hands, she picked up the clean end of the test, exiting the room. “So when is this display going to show up?” She asked, watching it closely.

 

“Not for a few minutes.” Rose replied, looking to Terezi. “You better go take it now too, Terezi.” She whined a little before getting up. She supposed she stalled herself long enough now. She headed past Aradia and into the bathroom, closing the door and dropping her pants. She dropped her boxers off as well and headed to the toilet, looking at the cap, unsure how to remove it. She pulled a little at it until it popped off, squatting herself over the toilet, holding the test down somewhere before forcing herself to pee on it. 

 

“AH!” She cried out as she peed directly on her wrist, moving her hand so she could catch the pee on the stick, frowning. She huffed as she heard Aradia start to laugh, puffing her cheeks out a bit.

 

“Ooh it’s showing something!” Aradia announced, grinning. She looked at the display before looking on the left side, raising a brow at the two bars. “Wait, what does this mean? The second one is kind of, faint, ish?” She inquired, tilting her head.

 

“It means you’re pregnant, silly!” Jade cheered, hugging her. “Congratulations!” Terezi exited the bathroom, holding onto her test.

 

“Oh so you’re successfully having a grub? I’d cheer for you, but you laughed at me peeing on my wrist.” She teased and came closer. “Okay fine good job.” She leaned in for a hug, Aradia stepping back.

 

“Not with that stick on you you’re not.” She told, looking at her own stick. “Do I need this? Or can I toss this?”

 

“No you can throw it if you want.” Rose assured, grabbing the trash can and bringing it closer so Aradia could toss it into the trash.

 

“So since you’re pregnant, I probably won’t be, good luck on all that Aradia!” Terezi said, grinning happily, not sure how she felt about that.

 

“Terezi, please, I’m sure you know as well as us that’s  _ not _ how it works.” Jade responded, raising a brow. “Do you, not want to have this grub or something?” Rose took Terezi’s test from her, holding it for her and shaking it a little to help it dry.

 

“I, I don’t know.” Terezi admitted, frowning a little. “I mean, I sort of feel like I won’t do this well, and, I don’t know how much Karkat really wants this, or, what if something happens and this grub is…” Jade grabbed her by the shoulders, stopping her.

 

“Terezi! Terezi stop! You’re just scared, that’s natural!” Jade assured, trying to calm her down.

 

“Sc-scared? Please! I don’t-” Jade shook her lightly to stop her again.

 

“Stop pretending it isn’t there! It’s natural to be scared, this is going to change your life! Especially with Karkat being gone, you’ll be the one responsible for whatever happens to your child, it’s terrifying. Your life is going to from being about you, to being about this grub, that’s horrifying! I get that! But I assure you, once you have this grub, you’re going to feel so much better, you’re going to take care of this grub, you’re going to love this grub, sure you won’t have as much time, but trust me, it’s going to make you so happy when you’re with her.” Terezi bit her lip and looked away for a moment. “Look at Aradia, she looks like she’s gonna be okay with all this, she’s ready, and trust me, you’re both gonna be great mothers.” Jade released Terezi, sighing and trying to cool herself down.

 

“I… You, really think, it’ll be okay?” Jade nodded, offering her a smile. Rose handed Terezi her stick back, showing her the positive test. Terezi took it and looked at the lines. “So officially I’m going to ruin a grub’s life.” She sighed and held it for a moment, wondering.

 

“Oh shut up, you’ll be fine.” Aradia told her, rolling her eyes. “We’ll both be fine.” She said confidently.

 

“Have you two been remembering to write in the journals?” Terezi and Aradia nodded, Terezi heading to the respite of Karkat’s she was using, Aradia grabbing hers from the guest respite.

 

“You know I have been feeling kind of sick a lot lately…” Terezi remarked, handing Rose her journal, Aradia handing Jade hers.

 

“That’s really common actually, even for humans.” Jade commented, paging through Aradia’s journal as Rose did the same for Terezi’s. Rose soon handed Terezi her journal back, Jade still reading through the journal, being a bit slower than her friend.

 

“You might as well write in there that you took your tests and are positive for pregnancy.” Terezi nodded and grabbed a pen, writing down the day number and what she was told to write. Jade handed Aradia hers back, along with a pen.

 

“Looks good! I’m sure this will help a lot if we get to have this go viral!” Terezi scoffed.

 

“It’ll probably be awhile until that happens anyway.” She said, looking down as she closed her journal.

 

“Still though, I’m excited for this! I bet I’ll enjoy being a mother to a grub, it looks like it’s fun!” Aradia claimed, rubbing her belly softly.

 

“And how the hell are you not scared? You’re going to be responsible for another life!” Terezi asked, turning her head as she tried not to think about it.

 

“Because I’m thinking about that exactly, I have confidence I can be responsible for the grub, not worrying about small mistakes, but thinking about how I’ll be able to love it, and protect it, and care for it.” Terezi shook her head, rather unsure she could say the same.

 

“Come on Terezi, just have a little confidence in yourself!” Jade urged, grinning at the libra.

 

“Easier said than done.” She replied, shaking her head. “I’ll see how this goes, but I’m going to be the worst mom ever, I know it.”

 

“Come on, enough of that.” Rose spoke up. “Let’s take your mind off it for now and do something fun with our time.” She suggested, looking between the trolls.


	4. New Face

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The man Karkat sends to protect Alternia's future seems to hit it off with one of the girls.

Terezi hummed softly as she carried out a bowl of soup, setting it at the table for her and Aradia. She smiled at the libra, having finished setting up the table. The girls had decided on a system, Terezi was better at cooking from raising herself, but was kind of messy, so Aradia would clean up if Terezi cooked. She was okay with this as it would be good practice having to cook for herself and her future grub, while Aradia didn’t have to put much effort into the cleaning with her telekinesis.

 

“Aradia!” Terezi called as she went into the kitchen, pouring out some fruit punch for the both of them, carrying the glasses to the table and setting them down next to the soup bowls, sitting down to eat. Aradia came out a few moments later, sitting down to eat with her.

 

There was a pound at the door, raising alertness from the girls. Terezi got up after they exchanged looks, heading to the door. She looked through the peephole, gasping when she saw a drone standing outside the door. She bit her lip and moved to open the door.

 

“Karkat Vantas?” It questioned, Terezi looking up at it.

 

“He’s, not here.” She replied, blinking a little.

 

“Intruder?” He questioned, his hand moving to grab her by the neck. Aradia stood up quickly, gasping.

 

“Terezi!” Before she could really react, there was a slice sound, followed by the drone releasing her and falling over. Terezi coughed a little and looked up, gasping as she met the gaze of a handsome cerulean blooded male, long horns which curved back at the tips.

 

“Whoa, who are you?” She questioned, a bit stunned by the fact that he killed the drone for her.

 

“Luntra Tardei, pleased to meet you, Terezi. Or are you lady Aradia?” She blinked and raised a brow.

 

“And, how do you know who I am?” She asked, stepping back into the hive.

 

“I suppose I really haven’t been introduced yet, your matesprit, Karkat hired me to watch and protect you two.” Terezi rolled her eyes.

 

“As nice as that is, I don’t think we need anyone to do that, so you might as well go back to Karkat now.” She suggested, moving to close the door, Luntra’s cerulean boot catching the door.

 

“No no, he said I had to do this.” The man insisted, moving to open the door a bit more.

 

“Terezi who is that?” Aradia asked, coming closer to the others.

 

“He’s apparently the troll Karkat sent to protect us.” Terezi said flatly, trying to push him out. “And I’m still saying we don’t need someone to protect us!”

 

“Oh yes, because you can defend yourself while you’re hurling in the toilet.” Aradia remarked before coming closer and trying to pull Terezi away from the door. “Come on, he’d probably end up staying outside or something if you kick him out, I doubt he could really go back, Karkat would just send him back here. Just accept him here so he can stay in a hive instead of the open!” Terezi whined out and huffed.

 

“But, damnit! Why does he think we need to be protected?! We’re both strong! We could kick anyone’s ass!” She retorted, huffing out.

 

“Probably because we might get weaker while we’re pregnant? I mean, come on, our bodies are putting more energy into the grubs now, that’s also a huge weak spot, Terezi!” Aradia replied, holding onto her as the man entered. Aradia looked up at him, blushing when she caught his gaze. He was a rather handsome troll, long hair flowing down to his shoulders, a strong, chiseled jaw line, the black cloak draped over his shoulder could only partly cover his muscular arms and chest, certainly the kind of troll may find playing a hero or handsome villian in a movie.

 

“Well hello, ma’am,” He spoke, coming closer to kiss Aradia’s hand softly. “If she’s Terezi, then you must be the fair Aradia, correct?” He asked, glancing up at her rust colored face.

Aradia laughed nervously, trying to cover up her embarrassment. “That would be right, Aradia Megido, that’s me!” She said confidently as she admired his looks, noticing a bit of stubble on his gorgeous mug. Terezi looked up at Aradia before looking at the man, raising a brow. She couldn’t believe Aradia was making a fool of herself for this troll. He was a little cute she could admit, but compared to Karkat, he was a pile of shit. “O-oh I uh, didn’t catch your name yet…” Aradia trailed a bit, watching him chuckle in response.

 

“Luntra Tardei, at your service.” He spoke, watching her react to his presence.

 

“Okay there is no fucking way I’m watching this.” Terezi declared, going to the door and opening it to walk out and move the dead drone away. It probably wouldn’t be the best idea to leave the corpse of a drone out on the front porch.

 

“I really must say, they really left a lot out on you. The dossier doesn’t even mention the beauty you hold, nor the way your blush brings out your cheekbones, it doesn’t even talk about these soft, delicate hands of yours.” He told her, smiling as she blushed more. It really wasn’t all the hard to charm the ladies, especially once he knew what to say, which he had already learned.

 

“So, Luntra, maybe sometime, we could uh get some dinner, or go see a movie?” She asked, trying to appear more calm than she was internally. 

 

“As  _ lovely _ as that’d be, I unfortunately can’t go too far from either you, or Terezi. We could never truly be alone.” He stated. “Karkat was quite clear that both of you must stay safe. He really emphasized that I must stay near lady Terezi as well as she’s “going to be mischievous” according to him.” He added, watching her frown.

 

“Yeah, don’t call me lady Terezi.” Terezi pointed out as she closed the door, pulling off her shoes. “If anything lady Pyrope sounds a bit better, but just refrain from that too.” She soon came to stand next to them. “Now listen, Aradia, I can respect that you want alone time with mr.overkill here, I can’t figure out why, but fine. Maybe the two of you can do so while I’m vomiting, from this,” she pointed to her belly, “Or this” she pointed at Luntra, “but just know his “politeness” is way too much.” She assured, walking off towards the bathroom.

 

“Ignore her, she’s probably just jealous she can’t have a shot with someone like you.” Aradia chuckled, grinning at him.


	5. News

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jade shares some unexpected news with her trollian friends

Jade hugged Aradia and Terezi, happy to see them again, it had been a month already since she had told them she was getting married, and since she had met their guardian troll. John clearly hadn’t come again as he had moved finally.

 

“So Dave is where, this time?” Terezi asked, half-surprised he wasn’t here again.

 

“Let's see, this time he’s on a talk show tonight and he’s resting a bit until then. He promised he’ll be here next month.” Jade informed.

 

“Well I understand him not being here, but Rose?” Aradia questioned, looking for her.

 

“She was gonna come but she was doing some writing and she just got through a writer’s block, so she said.” Jade chuckled. “Actually I think it makes her a little sad not being able to see Kanaya here and being here without her is a bit upsetting. I know she’s really missing her.” Aradia and Terezi frowned, feeling rather bad for her.

 

“Besides it’s not like I  _ need _ the others here for this anyway, I can report news all on my own.” Jade announced following them to sit at the couch.

 

“Wait, what? News? Again?” Aradia questioned, raising a brow.

 

“Oh did you two get married early then?” Terezi followed, raising a brow.

 

“No no no! It’s bigger news than that! But also, no way, we have a date blocked out in June to get married.” Jade remarked, smiling at them.

 

“So why don’t you just tell the lasses?” Luntra questioned. He wasn’t too keen on the humans really. 

 

“I, was getting to it?” She replied before turning back to the girls. “So we’re not really sure  _ how _ it happened, we’ve been safe about it, I assure, but I’m pregnant!” Jade announced, grinning.

 

“Wait what? Really?” Terezi questioned, raising a brow.

 

“Ooh Jade! That’s great!” Aradia squealed, hugging her tight. “This means all our kids can be friends!”

 

“Oh they can!” Jade grinned at them. “And then I can learn some mothering things from my society and pass it on to you two!” Jade exclaimed, smiling.

 

“But won’t we have our kids before you? Wouldn’t it be a bit late?” Terezi questioned, tilting her head a bit.

 

“If your pregnancy is like a human’s, sure, but we don’t know yet, it could be longer or shorter, though probably not shorter or I think you would’ve had more symptoms, and would be bigger by now.” Terezi shrugged and leaned back in the couch.

 

“I don’t see why this whole “pregnancy” thing is so great. It seems like it’s at least a way to continue to populate the species, but that’s it. And actually raising the grub yourself? No way, that’s not happening for me. That’ll just lead to soft trolls.” Luntra commented, leaning up.

 

“What? That’s not going to make them soft! I mean, I guess it will if either of them just relentlessly mothers them and doesn’t teach them to fight or whatever trolls learn. But I seriously doubt either of them will do that.” Jade argued, looking between the two females.

 

“Trolls as a species aren’t supposed to raise children, that’s why we have lusii.” 

 

“Well I think that can change! I’ve been told by a lot of women their lives were made so much better by being mothers, I’m sure they’ll agree when they… well  _ after _ labor. They definitely won’t enjoy labor.” Jade admitted, looking down a bit.

 

“Why? How bad can it really be?” Terezi questioned at her words, raising a brow.

 

“Well, imagine a grub, and then imagine pushing it out of your, er, what are your lady parts called again?” Jade questioned, she wasn’t that knowledgeable on troll anatomy.

 

“Nook.” Aradia answered, cringing a bit.

 

“Oh come on, still!” Terezi was sure it couldn’t really hurt that much, a bit of stretching, but that’s it.

 

“Okay but imagine pushing a grub out of your nook, I don’t know how stretchy your nook is, or how small a grub is, but what’s even worse for you trolls, is pushing those horns out. Imagine pushing out your horns, Terezi.” She glanced down at her nook for a moment, letting out a soft squeak at the thought, mentally feeling the sharp horns scraping her nook.

 

“Oh… shit… I really hope it has Karkat’s horns…” She hoped, the horns would push on her walls, but at least they wouldn’t cut her up. “I mean it has his blood, maybe it can just have his horns too!” Jade blinked tilting her head.

 

“It, has his blood? How did you figure that out?” She questioned, looking up and down at her.

 

“Please Jade, you think I’m going to smell candy red without trying to find the source? There’s a lot of red in my belly that seems to get a bit bigger each month, I’m pretty sure that’s in my uterus.” Jade blinked, this was the first she heard of this. “Aradia’s having a yellow blood too.”

 

“Huh, well alright, I suppose, I’m glad you, found this stuff out, good job Terezi, didn’t really know you could smell that deep in a body?”

 

“I can’t usually, but it’s probably because there’s a large group of a different color that I could pick up on it.” She corrected, petting her stomach softly. “Also because he or she is red.”


	6. 'Napped

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karkat and Sollux hurry to the rescue when someone threatens their grubs.

“Kk are we really doing this again?” Sollux questioned as he set up the hoofbeast again, climbing onto it.

 

“Yes! The report is late, and I’m not feeling so good on this!” Karkat yelled back, already on his hoofbeast. Luntra had been late with his report a several days in the last month, and every time it ended up like this, both of the males rushing off, only to receive his report on their way and turning right back around.

 

“It’s always the same thing!” Sollux reminded, both of them taking off. 

 

“I don’t, give a flying fuck! What if something happened and they need help!?” Karkat yelled back as he sped up.

 

“They’ll be fine damn it! Stop dragging me out like this!” Sollux yelled back, following behind him.

 

Luntra smiled as he kissed up Aradia’s neck. She had finally made her move and tried to get him to kiss her, but it had progressed past that, he was enjoying every moment with her. 

 

“Oh that feels good~” Aradia remarked, leaning in happily. His hand moved up her thigh and stroked her hip leaning in to kiss her neck a bit more, trailing up to kiss her softly.  She cooed out a little and scooted closer to him.

 

“My dear, you’re rather, intoxicating.” He trailed off before kissing her on the lips. Her hands made their way up his body, rubbing and massaging his muscles.

 

“Oh~ Thank you~” She replied, smiling.

 

“I have something for you, if you wouldn’t mind” He leaned over to get a rose from the table, he held it to her, smiling. “Go ahead, take a whiff” He urged, his other hand stroking her hair. She leaned in to sniff.

 

“Ooh it smells good!” She remarked, sniffing again, moving to kiss him again. He held her, back, chuckling.

 

“Give me a moment, my dear.” He told her, getting up. “I must freshen myself up a bit.” He told her, heading to the bathroom. He closed and locked the door, pulling his phone out to type up and send his report in.

 

“See Kk? I got the report!” Sollux yelled at Karkat, who only sped up.

 

“I still, have a bad feeling! We’re going!” He yelled back, continuing forward.

 

Luntra sat alone in the bathroom for a bit longer, looking at his watch before heading back out. “Ah, my dear, I’m ready for you” He announced, coming closer.

 

“Come get me~” Aradia said, leaning to get closer to him before leaning further down and passing out on the couch.

 

“I misspoke, you’re ready for me.” He moved around, looking for Terezi, who sat in Karkat’s -or for now, Terezi’s- respite, sitting on his bed. He looked at her and smiled at her.

 

“What are you doing?” She asked, raising a brow. “Aren’t you supposed to be with Aradia right now?”

 

“Well then how else am I going to deal with this bitch?” She glared at him.

 

“Excuse me?” She asked, narrowing her eyes.

 

“It’s called, I was playing a part, bitch.” He tossed her a pair of handcuffs, waiting. “Put them on.”

 

“You realize I’m not weak, right? I know how to defend myself.” She got up, brandishing her cane, glaring at him.

 

“You’re forgetting that I know your weak spots. I could just end your pregnancy, right now.” Terezi growled at him as he drew his sword from the sheath.

 

“You, wouldn’t, dare.” She hissed out, not that she really wanted to push it.

 

“And what do I lose, You lose a grub, I lose, nothing.” He spoke, coming closer. She sighed and dropped her cane.

 

“Fuck. You.” She said, picking up the cuffs she had been thrown. She glared at him and moved to slip them on her wrists. Luntra smirked and looked at her, leaning back, pointing out the door.

 

“Get walking, bitch.” He commanded, waiting for her to exit the room. He pushed the blunt end of his sword, waiting for her to continue.

 

“And what did you do to Aradia.” She spat, but moved for him, gasping when she saw Aradia, slumped over on the couch.

 

“Oh you know, chloroform.” He said, pushing her forward. She huffed as he headed over to pick up Aradia over his shoulder. Terezi glared, spotting her box of chalk, she went to pick it up. She hadn’t eaten any since she came pregnant, unsure if it was actually bad for the grub or not. “What the hell are you doing?” Luntra spat out, glaring at her. “I don’t want any funny business, bitch.”

 

“I think you can agree this is a stressful time. I’m going to turn to my comfort food.” She remarked, holding up the chalk.

 

“Gross.” He remarked but came to her, Terezi starting to head to the door before he can yell at her again. He opened the door, pushing her out. 

 

“I think I’ll start with my favorite color.” Terezi said decidingly, pulling out the red chalk, dropping it to the ground. “Fuck wait, let me get that.” She turned around, greeted by his glaring face.

 

“No. Keep going that way.” He told her, turning her and pushing her.

 

“You little-” She growled but calmed a bit, she had to remember stress wouldn’t be good, for the grub or her situation. “Fine. I’ll settle with orange then.” She reached back in, grabbing the orange, frowning as she dropped it as well. Luntra rolled his eyes at this, he did know her to be somewhat of a klutz, most likely because he spent more time charming Aradia than he did talking to Terezi, why bother doing so when he could charm one girl, and get her to make the other girl trust him. Terezi snuck out the yellow chalk, dropping it to the ground.

 

“Oh god there is no way I’ll use the green one.” She spoke, glancing back at his shaking head. She reached for the blue, pulling it out and dropping it.

 

“Don’t bother. We’re here. You won’t be able to eat any anyway.” He pushed her, Terezi gasping and turning her box upside down, dropping all the remaining chalk.

 

“Are you kidding me?” He asked, slapping the back of her head.

 

“Let me just pick them up, dickhead!” She argued, his only response being him stepping on them and grinding his heel into them. “Ass.” She remarked, Luntra moved to step and push on a rock, opening up a door in the building’s back. He pushed her forward, forcing her in the building, her plan going off without a hitch. She was sure, knowing Karkat, another troll had to be watching the three of them entire time, unlikely for him to just randomly trust a troll, she just had to make a trail. 

 

Luntra closed the door, leading her in a bit deeper, to a pair of stocks. “You see, we’ll be waiting here for the drones to pick us up. Even if you get out they know where your hive is, you’ve lost.” He told her, pushing her to the stocks. He put Aradia down in them, latching it closed, Terezi standing next to the stock.

 

“I can’t get in, dumbass.” She said, holding up her cuffed hands. He came closer and unlocked them, forcing her into the stocks and locking them.

 

“Soon you’ll have Aradia back, then both of you can gripe and whine for hours until they arrive.” Luntra added, stepping back.

 

Karkat slowed down at his hive, jumping off when he noticed the front door open. He ran in, looking around. He noticed the romantic setting at the couch, hoping that it was between Luntra and Aradia, not with Terezi.

 

“Terezi? Aradia!?” He yelled out, sending Sollux through the hive as he helped search. Sollux looked through the study before moving to the respiteblock.

 

“KK!” He yelled out, Karkat running to him. Sollux pointed at the cane on the ground, Karkat’s eyes widening as he headed out the door.

 

“We have to find them!” He yelled back, noticing red dust, under his hoofbeasts hoof. He pushed him back a bit and inspected the red chalk, knowing where it came from. Sollux came out before tapping Karkat’s shoulder and pointed at the orange one not too far away. “That’s my girl.” He said, getting back on his hoofbeast, following the trail.

 

Aradia groaned as she opened her eyes slowly. “L-Luntra?” She asked, leaning her head up, blinking a little.

 

“Is a fucking traitor. I  _ knew _ I shouldn’t have trusted him!” Terezi decided, noticing Aradia jump when she realized where she was.

 

“Oh god what are they going to do to us!?” She asked, trying to pull out.

 

“They plan on turning you two into, essentially grub mothers. High bloods pump in genes, get grubs out. It’ll be your contribution to society,  _ and _ your punishment for being part of the silly rebellion.” He said, sitting on a nearby grungy couch, awaiting his drones.

 

“You, you’re actually evil!? I can’t believe I thought-”

 

“Of course I am! And obviously you would, bitch. I wanted you to believe that, so you did.”

 

“Why are you doing this?” Terezi asked, huffing as Aradia started to clearly freak out inside, pulling and squirming.

 

“Because if lowbloods won’t serve their highbloods, they should be exterminated. Lowbloods are cold, heartless trolls. Not like the nice, loyal highbloods.  _ They _ care.” He told them, thinking back.

 

“...What happened to you to make you believe that sheer lie?” Terezi asked, glaring at him. It sounded, reversed.

 

“Lowbloods have always just kicked me away when I needed help, saying I was a higher blood, I’ll figure it out. Highbloods raised me into this, from the empress to the blueblood who showed me how to fight. They’ve always treated me right. You all act like highbloods are the ones who focus the most on blood, but they’re not. The highbloods showed me I could do great things, despite being a cerulean blood. Those lowbloods though, you’re all the same. I’m suddenly the bad guy for being of slightly higher blood than you! Well I might as well just be the bad guys to you anyway and serve my beloved highbloods!” He told, anger starting to form and appear.

 

“Oh yeah, now who’s the castest. Not all lowbloods are like that you know.” Terezi huffed. “Maybe you fucked over some lowbloods indirectly, or you know, maybe they had their own things they were going through and took it out on you. Ooh or maybe they were just jerks and would’ve been low or high.” He growled at her, looking around and throwing a small rod at her rump, not willing to put the effort to get up.

 

“Terezi, stop. Clearly he’s already a bad man, just don’t fight him.” Aradia told her, grunting and attempting to wiggly her hands free from the stocks.

 

“Well what now!?” Karkat asked as he stood where the chalk trail ended, pounding on the wall, then looking around for more of a trail. Sollux rolled his eyes and looked down at the dusty chalk on the ground. He noticed the footprint in it the dust, following the footprints to a nearby rock with another footprint on the rock. He stomped on it and watched as the door slid open.

 

“What the hell!?” Luntra shouted, standing up quickly. He glared before chuckling. “Well I suppose it  _ would _ look even better to bring in the mutant blood to the empress.” He remarked, brandishing his sword.

 

“Karkat?” Terezi called out, a bit surprised he’d be here this quickly.

 

“Yeah yeah Pyrope. Save the gushy feelings for later after I save your ass.” He told her, making the libra huff as Karkat pulled his sickle out, holding it tight.

 

“Oh yeah,  _ I’m _ the one who’s going to have the gushy feelings. I mean, maybe because of this grub, but it’s definitely going to be you.”

 

“Sollux, get the girls free. I got this.” Karkat instructed, dashing in.

 

“Karkat, that’s really not-”

 

“Now!” He yelled as he clashed weapons with Luntra. Sollux moved towards them, getting closer to him.

 

“Yeah but Karkat, you can’t-” 

 

“Sollux, shut the hell up so you can focus!” He yelled back, getting pushed back Luntra who rushed to Sollux.

 

“You’re forgetting that he’s stronger than you, dumbass.” He remarked, using his Psionics to pull his weapon away before he could slash, tossing his weapon aside, moving to punch him in the face. “And I can kick his ass.” He remarked, blocking a hit from Luntra.

 

“I am not fucking weaker than that douche!” He told him, moving around them quickly, he smashed the butt of his sickle to the lock of Aradia’s stock, helping her up and rushing her to the exit as Sollux punched Luntra in the gut, holding his head down to bash his knee into his head.

 

“Go!” Karkat urged, pushing her out the door, gesturing her towards the chalk path.

 

“Karkat!” Terezi reminded, struggling in the stocks.

 

“You assholes aren’t getting out of here. She’ll be the only one to survive.” He told him, wiping some blood away, wiping out a control box from his pocket, smashing a button, the door closing, another press of a separate button, the sound of an explosion was heard behind Luntra, one of the walls caving in as a fire broke out.

 

“You fucking-” Sollux kicked him in the gut before Karkat could get to him.

 

“You’ll burn with me!” He yelled out as he held his gut, starting to force himself up. Sollux grabbed him by the neck and moved him to the stocks as Karkat broke the other lock, moving to lift Terezi in his arms. Sollux forced him in the stocks, thinking for a moment before pulling out a spoon he had held onto, pulling and bending the spoon a bit so it wouldn’t let him up.

 

“Karkat, what the hell are you doing?” Terezi asked, gesturing down at him holding her.

 

“Shut up and let me be romantic.” He demanded, Terezi shrugging and wrapping her arms around him.

 

“Okay, can we break up this love fest until we get out of this BURNING building?!” Sollux yelled out, feeling the heat of the building grow.

 

“We might have to run over the fire!” Karkat yelled back, Terezi shaking her head.

 

“Now I’m sure that’s not gonna be good for the grub, we can’t do that!” She yelled back at him, holding on as another explosion burst behind them.

 

“Terezi that’ll be the least of our worries if we can’t get out!” She looked around before pointing at the wall.

 

“Jump through the window!” She instructed, looking up at him.

 

“There’s no window there, idiot!” Karkat informed, holding onto her tighter.

 

“There is! They put wall over it, break the wall a little and we can get through!”

 

“I think you’re crazy if you think-” As they argued, Sollux moved closer, smashing his elbow into the crack of the wall, the wall crumbling and showing the window.

 

“There, don’t you fucking doubt me and my nose again!” She huffed, turning towards Karkat, trying to make sure their grub would be safe. Karkat huffed angrily.

 

“Go Karkat!” Sollux yelled back, moving back to let the two go first, hoping they’d absorb most of the glass so he wouldn’t have to.

 

“Shield yourself Pyrope!” He yelled as he ran and jumped through the window, holding her close in attempt to keep her safe. She tucked her head in a bit, her arms wrapped around her stomach. He grunted as he landed on his foot and knee, shaking a bit of glass from his hair, moving aside as Sollux leaped from the building.

 

“You okay Terezi?” He asked, she grunted and nodded.

 

“Well I’m not going to die, but,” She held up her arm, a shard of glass in her upper arm. Karkat rolled his eyes as he looked to Sollux, leaving it in so the blood would stay held in.

 

“Let’s get a move on.” He instructed, heading to the front of the building, untying the hoofbeasts, he lifted Terezi onto him and began to lead him back as Sollux climbed onto the other hoofbeast.

 

“It’s a good idea you had a backup guy watching.” Terezi remarked, holding onto the hoofbeast’s saddle.

 

“...Backup guy?” Karkat questioned, looking back up at her.

 

“You know, the guy you had watching formal douchebag.” She replied, raising a brow at his playing dumb.

 

“I, only assigned Luntra?” He questioned, watching his path.

 

“Then how the hell did you know to come?” She asked, leaning to look closer at him

 

“His report was nearly an hour late and I sort of had a bad feeling.”

 

“That is really stupid. If it were me, I would’ve sent well, Luntra apparently, then a week later I would’ve sent another guy he knew nothing about to keep an eye on him.” Terezi stated, sitting back squarely in her seat as he pulled the hoofbeast up to his hive. She moved to slip off the saddle, Aradia running out of the hive to hug Terezi.

 

“Terezi! You’re okay!” She cried out as she held onto her, pulling away after a moment to hit Karkat. “You did this! You picked him!” Karkat flinched a bit and groaned.

 

“It was Sollux who picked him!” Aradia ceased hitting him and looked up at Sollux, huffing.

 

“I think you’re all missing something.” Terezi stated, rolling her eyes.

 

“And that is?” Sollux questioned, blocking a hit from Aradia.

 

“Luntra said the drones knew we were hiding out here, we can’t stay here!” She informed, crossing her arms. Karkat glanced at Sollux before thinking. 

 

“Okay, go pack the shit that you need.” Karkat commanded, watching both of the girls head back into the hive to gather the necessary gear.

 

“So where are they going to go now Kk?” Sollux asked, making the assumption he had an idea. “They could stay at my hive, but that’s not well secluded. They could come with us.”

 

“No, they’re going to a much more secluded and hidden area. Some place they can wander and let the grubs wander even.” Sollux raised a brow as Aradia exited with her bag.

 

“Come on Terezi!” Karkat yelled, a bit restless. She exited the hive, holding her bag on her back, holding three small picture frames.

 

“I was grabbing these for you.” She told him, handing him two of them, slipping the other in her bag. He took the pictures, the top one a picture of him and her, moving the picture to look at the one behind it. A picture of him with his lusus when he was younger, he looked back at her quickly, sighing. He stored the pictures in his captchalogue, moving to help her back on the hoofbeast, climbing onto the saddle in front of her.

 

“You’re gonna wanna hold on.” He told her, looking at Sollux. “You’re gonna want to follow me.” He told him, waiting for Sollux to climb on his hoofbeast. He held his hand down, helping to pull Aradia behind him, who moved to wrap her arms around him. Terezi wrapped her arms around Karkat, lightly nuzzling him, happy to be near him for a little bit. Once Sollux was ready, Karkat moved out quick, holding onto his reins tight, Sollux following behind him.


	7. Relocated

Terezi looked up as she held onto Karkat, instantly recognizing where they were. The colors were all too familiar to her, she hadn’t been here in so long though, she wiped some tears away, blaming the tears themselves on her hormones, not willing to admit how emotional she probably would be without this grub making her.

 

She loved her forest, the pink leaves, the blue trunks, she couldn’t help but smile at her return, happy to be arriving home. She looked up at her hanging scalemates, tightening her hold around Karkat in happiness. She moved up a little kiss his cheek a few time, her emotions really taking over. Aradia looked around, mostly looking up at the scalemates as they rode. Sollux glanced over at Karkat, chuckling at the lipstick left on his cheek.

 

Terezi gasped as her hive came into view, waiting for Karkat to stop before sliding off quickly, dropping her lift. Karkat slid off, pulling his hoofbeast and tying him to a branch, moving to help Aradia down so Sollux could do the same.

 

“Come on, hurry up!” Terezi urged, unable to wait to get home. Karkat wiped his cheek clean as he lead the three to the lift, almost as soon as they got on the lift, she started it up, letting it ascend up to the tree. Of course, Terezi was the first one into her hive, checking on all the things she left behind when she had left to join Karkat. Most of it was covered in dust, a few cobwebs here and there, but it was all there.

 

“Whoa, it’s a real mess in here…” Aradia remarked, sure they’d have to clean it.

 

“But this will probably be a good place to stay. It’s miles from any other hive, and it’s secluded in the trees.” Karkat added, crossing his arms at his matesprit.

 

“Really, why did you just set them up here first?” Sollux questioned, brushing off a chair and sitting. 

 

“Didn’t think of it.” He replied, moving his arms out to catch Terezi in all her moving around. “Stop for a fucking second.” He demanded, moving down to kiss her softly. “I gotta go.”

 

“What?? You’re not gonna stay at least a night?” She asked, frowning at him.

 

“I can’t, I have to get back. We told no one we were leaving, I’m the leader, can’t really just disappear and expect no one to panic.” He told her, pulling her to him for a hug.

 

“Well, I don’t know, can’t you at least sit with me for a few minutes? There wasn’t much talking on the way here…” She told him, really hoping she had time to tell him how it had been with their grub. “I mean, you haven’t even asked me about this little one…” He sighed and nodded.

 

“Then let’s talk for a few minutes, then I really have to go.” He told her, she took his hand and lead him to her respite, sitting down on the bed. “So, since you, brought it up, how is it?”

 

“It’s fine, I think. It’s, growing at least, I’ve been throwing up quite a bit…” She took his hand and put it over her stomach, letting him feel the slight bump. It clearly wasn’t much, but this might be the only time he’d be able to feel her belly with a grub in it.

 

“Do you know anything about it yet?” He asked, rubbing it softly.

 

“Well yeah, I assume since it’s growing that it’s healthy… I know a bit more, but I won’t tell you until you’re done with the war and come see it, and me, again.” She told him, moving to peck his lips. “How have things been since I left?”

 

“Milara has been doing a good job of doing your job. It’s been a bit more stressful, I guess, but it’s going fine for now.”

 

“It’s been more stressful because I’m not there to massage you, or suck you off, or let you do me.” She remarked, snickering a little.

 

“Oh shut up. I mean, alright, it’s a little true, but you don’t have to fucking say it.” He huffed and pulled her closer.

 

“So, do you think you’ll be back soon, to visit if nothing else?” She asked, leaning into the hug.

 

“Not to visit. I probably won’t come back until I finish all this, it’d be too dangerous for you two if I did, I might end up leading them here.” He told her, stroking her back.

 

“But who knows how long that might be? You could be gone for nearly a sweep!”

 

“Well, I’m sorry to leave you with this grub, it can’t be good…” She bit her lip and shook her head.

 

“W-well Jade says that I’ll be very happy when the grub comes, she says that I’ll love it and that the reward for me doing this will be higher than your reward. She told me she’s sure I’ll be excited, she’s excited for hers, but honestly, I’m terrified!”

 

“Wait, Jade’s having a human grub? Did she find someone?” Dave and Jade hadn’t told him they got together, they were sure he’d say he was okay with it, but if things didn’t work out, he might not be happy with Jade for whatever reason. He surely loved Terezi, but it had been abundantly clear that he still missed Dave, he wasn’t about to leave her for him, but he still couldn’t help but miss the human. Terezi wasn’t about to tell him if they didn’t want to yet, so instead her response had just been to nod at him.

 

“She did.”

 

“Well that’s good for her. Anyway, why the hell are you scared? Are you suddenly scared of grubs?”

 

“What? No! I’m scared I won’t do a good job raising the grub. I mean, aren’t you a little worried we won’t raise it right? It’ll be fucked up if we don’t do a good job…” She trailed off, glancing away. Karkat thought of how to respond, in honesty he hadn’t really put much thought into any of this, he hadn’t really thought about actually taking care of a grub, just keeping Terezi protected while she carried it.

 

“What about a lusus? They could raise it?” He questioned, Terezi huffing and pushing him back. 

 

“You want me to give my grub up to a lusus? Maybe I would’ve done that before, but there’s no way in hell I’ll do it now! I’ve talked to it, I might not do the best job, but damn it I’ll give it the most love!” She growled out, glaring at him.

 

“Okay! Okay! I’m sorry! I didn’t know! I’ve been fucking gone, remember? I have a lot of bigger things I’ve been worried about!” He replied, watching her slowly calm down before she came back in and held onto him, a few tears in her eyes.

 

“I know, I know, it’s just that, I’m, I’m really scared okay? I miss you, and I’m scared, and I can’t help but feel this way, and I can’t… I don’t know how I’ll be able to do this, wh-what if I really fuck it up?” She asked, sniffling, Karkat blinking at the sudden mood change.

 

“Uh… Well what if you don’t? Or, what if you end up doing what you’re supposed to? Or how about, you don’t worry about fucking it up and you just love it and raise it, teach it what’s good and bad, you know, the standard lusus shit.” She sniffled and looked up at him.

 

“I-I… But I didn’t have a lusus to r-really raise me, sh-she taught me how to see, b-but beyond that…”

 

“And I’m sure you can do it well. If I thought you couldn’t I would’ve have agreed to putting a grub inside you.” That wasn’t quite true, in actuality, he didn’t know if she’d be a good parent, he assumed she might be but he had nothing to base it on.

 

“R-Really?” She asked, hugging him again, smiling a little as she wiped her eyes on his shirt. “Th-thank you…” She told him, slowly moving to get up, helping him up. He really wasn’t sure what to do but get up with her, not willing to set her off again.

 

“I’m sorry he turned out pretty bad…” Sollux apologized to Aradia, looking down at her saddened face. Once Karkat had been dragged out of the respite, he and Aradia had been sitting in silence. He wanted to ask her about their grub, but he knew she was hurting and he didn’t know how to help her. He wasn’t good with breakups, that’s why his relationship with Karkat was a bit difficult when he had broken up with Dave. He only hoped he wouldn’t end up breaking up with Terezi, he wouldn’t be able to help Karkat as much as he should.

 

“He, did seem too perfect… I should’ve known. Ugh I’m so stupid!” She told herself, holding her head in her hands. Sollux looked down before moving into pat her back in attempt to comfort her.

 

“Hey, you’re not stupid, everyone gets tricked by a pretty face every once in awhile!” He tried to continue, wondering if that was the right choice of words.

 

“I know! I know! But I really have to go!” Karkat urged as he exited the respite, Terezi clinging to him a bit.

 

“But you could stay a little longer, we could cuddle, kiss, do it, hell as long as we get to spend time together!” She told him, holding onto him.

 

“And as fucking much as I’d love to, I can’t! I! Have! To! Go!” He told her, finally prying her off, Sollux heading to him.

 

“Let’s go then Kk, Kanaya must be worried.” Karkat sighed and looked at him as Terezi noticed the saddened Aradia and headed to her, trying to comfort her, almost immediately doing a better job than Sollux had stumbled through.

 

“Sollux, I’m going, you’re staying here with the girls until I have someone else sent to take care of them.” Sollux blinked, looking back at them. This did mean he’d have more time to ask about his grub, but he didn’t think Karkat could handle himself.

 

“But Kk-”

 

“No, it’ll really only be a week or so, you can spare your time. You’re staying.” He demanded, making Sollux huff. It was rather hard to argue with Karkat when he was like this, he was rather stubborn.

 

“I don’t think this is a good idea, but fine. Who’re you sending?” He asked, looking at Karkat.

 

“You’ll see when they arrive. They’ll tell you you’re relieved.” He told him, stepping onto the lift. Terezi moved back to Karkat, separating from Aradia for the moment. She came closer to him, kissing him softly before stepping back off the lift.

 

“You got this, and you better do a good job for this grub, it’s relying on you!” She told him, letting his lift begin to lower.

 

“And you’ll be a good parent!” He yelled back, it had been the first thing to his mind, stepping off the lift at the bottom. She smiled as she watched him mount his hoofbeast and ride off alone.


	8. Loss

Sollux slept on the couch as Terezi sat at the breakfast table, eating some stuff, waiting for Aradia to come join her. She softly stroked her belly as she waited, cooing and talking to her belly softly as she waited. She glanced at the bathroom door every once in awhile as she heard Aradia cry out a few times. She walked to the door and knocked on it.

 

“Aradia? You okay in there?” She asked, leaning to listen to the door.

 

“I’m, just fine Terezi!” She called back, grunting. “Just go back to eating!” Terezi waited a moment before walking away from the door to sit and eat again, still rather worried for the aries.

 

Terezi awkwardly ate her food as she heard the cries Aradia let out, glancing over at Sollux, wondering if it might be best to wake him up to help her deal with Aradia. Terezi began to wonder if this was another side effect to being pregnant, one that she hadn’t experienced yet. If it was, she was a little scared to experience it, it didn’t sound very fun, it sounded very painful actually.

 

“You sure you’re okay?” Terezi asked, getting up and coming closer, giving her small bump a stroke, subconsciously wishing that symptom could bypass her if she was nice to her grub.

 

“I said I was fine!” She yelled back, groaning. Terezi sighed and waited by the door for a few minutes, offering her stomach a few more pets and heading to eat again, hoping Aradia would be okay.

 

By the time Aradia came out of the bathroom, Terezi was washing her dishes, Aradia’s food still out for her. She made her way slowly to the table, groaning. She moved to sit at the table, starting to eat her meal. Terezi turned to her, a worried look on her face. First she took note of Aradia’s messed up hair, she thought it was refreshing to see the fair haired beauty a bit more natural looking. She noticed her shirt a bit wrinkled, before noticing something more surprising. She quickly approached Aradia, sniffing as she did.

 

“Uh Aradia… What happened?” She asked, frowning.

 

“Just, an uncomfortable bathroom trip…” Aradia answered, trying not to answer more than that.

 

“Aradia, I’m really worried, because-”

 

“Terezi, leave it, okay?”

 

“But Aradia, I’m worried! I, I can’t smell your grub anymore!” Aradia’s eyes widen as she dropped her fork, holding her stomach. She could sort of tell she bled into the toilet, but she didn’t know how extreme it was, she thought it was possibly something that’d cause some problems later, but she didn’t know she’d lose it. Her head slowly slid into her hands, starting to cry into them, unable to really reply. Terezi frowned, moving to hug her, stroking her shoulder softly.

 

“Wh-why me!?” She cried out, hands covering in her rust tears. “I was the one excited for my grub! Y-you were the scared one!” Terezi was a little taken back by the unnecessarily hostile question, but continued to provide support, she knew Aradia was stressed already, she obviously didn’t really mean it. “Why is my life surrounded with death!? Every time I try to escape, death finds me!”

 

“I…I’m sorry Aradia…” She said softly holding her more. “Maybe, it’s been all the stress you’ve been through with Luntra-” Aradia slammed her fist on the table, letting her tears run free.

 

“I-I’ll kill him for this!” She decided, shaking a little. “H-He thought it’d be sooooo fun to seduce me then crush my life!” Terezi glanced away before softly commenting.

 

“But… he probably burned to death, the building went into flames…” Aradia wiped her eyes, shaking a bit as she tried to slow her tears before slipping back into her sobs. Terezi slowly released her, heading to wake Sollux up. She shook him a bit before he jumped awake, grunting and looking at her.

 

“Oh… hey Terezi. I just had a rather interesting dream. I was standing there, and all of sudden I saw my grub, I assume. He had a set of horns like me and a set like Aradia’s, and he was reaching for me and slowly he was getting further and further away, and when he got closer he disappeared.” Terezi glared at him and glanced at Aradia, hoping she hadn’t heard that, she wasn’t quite sure though. She knelt down to talk to him for a moment instead.

 

“Aradia just presumably lost the grub, I can’t smell it anymore, and she’s very upset about it, so-”

 

“What?!” Sollux asked in a hushed tone, his own eyes widening in shock over this. “O-our grub is gone?” He asked, getting up, practically pushing Terezi over as he did, moving to Aradia, hugging her, trying to mask his emotions, wondering if it was true or if it was just a prank Terezi was pulling, but due to Aradia’s reaction, it must be true. 

 

This time, when Aradia was hugged, she turned to hug him back, sobbing to him as she held on, finding comfort in him, too upset to realize he wa crying even. Terezi watched, wondering if this would happen to her grub as well, maybe it had just been something because they were trolls, maybe the stress wasn’t the factor at all. In any case, Terezi headed to the respite for the grubs, she didn’t know if maybe her still pregnant body would upset her further.

 

She felt the bassinets they had bought together, remembering when they got them during the closing sale. They had lied and old the sales troll that it was for sex to cover up the real reason. Terezi wondered if there was anything in here that would cheer the Megido up, realizing all of this would just upset her further.

 

Sollux moved and lifted up Aradia, trying to use his psionics to help him, struggling a bit due to his emotional state, driving him to quickly carry her to the couch before his psionics broke. Aradia completely ignored it, just holding onto him as she cried. In actuality, she had heard his dream, and that had only sparked her more, she had a near identical dream last night, it had made her sad, but she had dismissed it as nothing and gone back to sleep.

 

“Th-they did this…” Aradia hissed through her teeth, her sorrow and despair fueling the rage that slowly seeped its way in. “Those filthy, rotten highbloods.” She spoke, clenching her fists.

 

“Wh-what? How are they to blame?” He believed in the concept of making them pay, but he was completely unaware of how she had arrived to this conclusion.

 

“Trolls like Luntra, who play others. Play them, stress them, kill them.” She hissed, slamming her fists into the coffee table in anger, half accidental, growling through her tear. Sollux jumped at the table, remembering that Aradia was strong when she was angry.

 

“Then I’ll help you with your revenge.” He informed, willing to help her in anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the crap out there, I honestly don't know too much about miscarriages...


	9. 8ack

Aradia huffed as she sat at lunch, eating rather fast, leaving Terezi and Sollux to eat a bit slower, a bit amazed by how fast she was eating, and how aggressively she was ripping her food apart. Aradia had been rather angry since she lost her grub, rightfully so, but it didn’t stop startling the pair. Aradia had normally been really calm, but they were seeing her in a scary mood, it wasn’t ideal in any way.

 

There was a knock on the door, leaving the trolls to look at each other questioningly. Terezi got up, heading to the door, wondering who could’ve known where the other lever for the lift was. She opened the door, being immediately greeted by Vriska, moving to swoop her into a hug.

 

“Heeeeeeeey! Scourge Sister!” She exclaimed loudly, Terezi left surprised by her sudden appearance. Aradia and Sollux exchanged questioning stares as well.

 

“Vr-vriska!” She grunted out, trying to pull herself free from her, groaning out. “H-haven’t seen you in a few months now, and please put me down before you fucking squish us!” She demanded, Vriska setting her back down and releasing her.

 

“So what’s up sis, what have you been up to?” She asked, leaning down to talk to her, rather obnoxiously.

 

“You know what I’ve been up to.” She told her, hands on her hips from her stature. “I’ve been pregnant for quite a bit now.” Vriska groaned and leaned up, passing around her.

 

“Yeah yeah, I get it.” Vriska noticed Sollux and Aradia at the table, who had stopped staring and gone back to eating. The other thing she noticed was how clean Terezi’s hive was, along with all the chalk drawings washed off the walls. “Jeez Terezi, you’re really changing for this thing, look at this place!” She said, gesturing to the rather normal hive.

 

“If you’re referring to the cleanliness, I didn’t do that, Aradia did.” Terezi assured, looking at Aradia. “She said it’s like a brand new canvas, and that maybe leaving all my shit on the floor would make me trip and hurt myself while I’m like this, or it might get hurt later.” Vriska groaned at this, rather uninterested by the grub talk.

 

“Vriska” Sollux started, pushing himself up from the table. “What the literal fuck are you doing here?” He asked, having a hunch.

 

“I came to visit Terezi of course.” She told him, trying to dismiss him.

 

“Despite the fact that Terezi was going to be staying at Karkat’s? You knew she was. Karkat asked you to come for me didn’t he?” Vriska was silent for a moment before chuckling.

 

“I admit you’re smart, just not all in the right ways. But good job.”

 

“It was really common knowledge.”

 

“Yes, I’m here because Karkat asked me to come and relieve you. You can go crawl back to Karkat now.” Vriska replied once again, watching Sollux’s eyes narrow.

 

“But why would he pick you? We discussed you doing this. We decided it’d be a bad idea since you might attempt getting rid of the grub.” Vriska huffed and glared at him, turning to him fully, putting her hands on her hips as she looked up at him.

 

“ _ Excuse me!? _ I might hate grubs and children in general, but I wouldn’t do anything like  _ that! _ ” She refuted, getting a bit closer to him subconsciously, genuinely offended.

 

“How the  _ fuck _ would we know?! You’re a loose canon! You hate grubs and children! We just assume you’d go that far!” Sollux argued back, grunting with a bit of anger.

 

“Well maybe  _ assuming _ isn’t a good idea! Have you ever thought to ask me what I’d do!?” She asked, huffing angrily at him.

 

“We would if you didn’t  _ require _ us to go to you instead of you coming to us! You live right fucking next to Equius, who would fucking take our heads if he could! He pretends to be okay with all this, but his loyalty is to the hemospectrum!” Sollux yelled back, his psionics sparking with his anger. Aradia watched this, smirking a little. Terezi groaned and came between them, pushing them away.

 

“Hey. Hey, don’t you two do anything, I’m here, and I’m carrying this grub still, I’m not going to let you two get into a fight and hurt my grub damnit.” Terezi huffed, glaring at the two of them who slowly diffused from each other. Sollux huffed and walked away to start packing, Vriska watching him leave. Terezi sighed as she looked at Vriska. 

 

“Seriously Vriska? Why did you need to do that?” She asked, Vriska shrugging. 

 

“It’s pretty fun lighting up his flame.” She remarked, chuckling.

 

“Well  _ quit it _ ! It’s not that funny.” She commented, watching Sollux return. 

 

“I’m heading out, the sooner the better.” He told them, eyes narrowed at Vriska. 

 

“And I’m going too.” Aradia spoke, holding her bag as well. 

 

“Wait, what?” Terezi asked, coming closer to Aradia. “You’re not sticking with me?” She frowned at this, watching Aradia shake her head. 

 

“No, Terezi, I lost my child, I’m going to go take my revenge on them for raising a  _ monster  _ like that!” Terezi sighed and nodded, she didn’t know the feeling, and she really didn't want to know it. Aradia had to live with this feeling, there was no way she would get in the way of stopping her. In reverse, Aradia had no clue how she was  _ supposed _ to feel, all she knew was that she felt rage, most likely to hide her sadness, but Aradia didn’t want to feel that right now.

 

“I… Suppose… Well, good luck I guess…” She told her, watching Aradia come closer to hug Terezi.

 

“But no matter how much all this hurt me, you take care of yourself and the grub. Finish growing it and have it, you’re the last hope… Well for now I suppose. I left my journal on my nightstand by the way, to study from later.” She said, trying to encourage her. Terezi nodded, it hadn’t really worked, but Terezi wasn’t making plans to be rid of it anyway.

 

“Don’t worry! Terezi’s a strong troll, she can handle all the pain and terrifying parts!” Vriska said confidently, smacking her on the back “encouragingly”. However this just made Terezi growl at the sudden back pain accompanying her already pained back. “Though with all those responsibilities, you could just-” Aradia narrowed her eyes, using her telekinesis to slap Vriska across the face, figuring with this was going.

 

“Don’t you  _ DARE _ make her go through what I went through.” Vriska shrugged, rubbing her face but ignoring her otherwise.

 

“Aradia,” Sollux called out from the door, a foot on the lift. “Stop threatening her, she’s not worth it.” He told her, Aradia coming closer to join him, exiting on the lift. Terezi came closer, leaning out the window a little to watch them go down. Once they were back on the ground, Sollux climbed on the hoofbeast he had rode on here, Aradia climbing back on behind him. She sighed, she was happy that Vriska was here, but she was sad to see them go, especially Aradia, she had felt bad about this ever since this happened.

 

“Ah! Finally free of the losers!” Vriska announced, making Terezi turn around and glare at her.

 

“Why the hell do you feel the need to keep pissing them off!?” She slowly approached her. “Sometimes I think you  _ try _ to piss them off! Are you going to be doing this to my grub? Are you going to make his or her life miserable!?”

 

“Geez Terezi, when did you become such a wimpy bitch? It’s not even affecting you!” Vriska retorted, huffing. Terezi growled and slapped her on the back of the head. 

 

“Since I started growing this grub! I don’t have to be you, I know what’s right, but what if my grub tries to be like you?! I don’t want him or her to become a terrible bitch like you!” Vriska huffed, unphased by that, she knew she was a bad influence. But what got her was how different Terezi was acting now. “Maybe because I’m starting to realize that I need to be mature! Damnit Vriska,  _ you _ can be a child, but  _ I _ can’t, I’m having one, I can’t be one!”

 

“Well, who asked you to?! Why couldn’t you lose your grub instead of Aradia?! I hate you this way!” Terezi growled and slapped her. 

 

“Are you fucking serious?! I thought you were supposed to be moirail! Hell, you’re  _ supposed _ to be my friend! How could you even say that to me?! I can’t even begin to fathom how she must feel to lose her grub, and here you are! Telling me I should lose my grub! Have you considered, I’m actually really excited for this grub?!” Terezi could feel tears on her cheeks, shaking her head. She couldn’t tell if they were of anger or sadness, however. “I’m scared as all fucking  _ hell _ to do this, but I’m super excited too! Jade keeps telling me it’s a great feeling to be a mother to a kid!” Terezi shuddered a bit and moved to stroke her belly softly as she began to tear up more.

 

“Pyrope… Are you, crying?” She asked, slowly approaching her. Terezi pushed her back, wiping her eyes.

 

“Of fucking course I am! I’m pregnant, I’m really fucking emotional!” She yelled back, her tears continuing to fall until she started to full on cry and sob into her arm. Vriska sighed as she realized she was going too far, coming closer to hug Terezi. Vriska fought against Terezi as the smaller, pregnant woman hissed and tried to push her off. Vriska, being stronger than Terezi, just held her there until she gave in and cried on Vriska, unable to hold the floodgates anymore.

 

With Terezi crying on her like she was, Vriska couldn’t help but roll her eyes. Maybe she was giving Terezi a bit more shit than she should’ve. It was rather necessary for her to have a grub, but Vriska didn’t like that she was the one to sacrifice herself for this. Then again, she was convinced Terezi wasn’t happy with all this, however, now Vriska was starting to think, maybe Terezi actually was happy for this. It could’ve been the hormones making her say these things, but it was also entirely possible that Terezi was just happy, Vriska would have to deal with that, she could be supportive of her moirail as much as she needed to be.


	10. Explanations

Vriska groaned as she plopped on the couch, tired of being awake already despite only being awake for a few moments. She had gotten off this couch to go the the bathroom and she was already back on this uncomfortable couch. Terezi was still asleep, despite insisting to Vriska that today was the human day, the humans would be coming. Vriska particularly care that much, but she knew she’d have to be around.

 

Vriska couldn’t help but think about tearing them a new one for turning her moirail into the sniveling bitch she was now. She really didn’t like the changes Terezi had the more time she spent with her. Terezi had been craving some foods lately, and her mood swings were still very noticeable, something else Vriska hated. Sometimes they’d argue and Terezi would get angry, other times they’d argue and Terezi would just break down sobbing; it was disgusting.

 

There was a loud yawn from behind the couch as Terezi entered the room, rubbing sleep out of her eyes. She let out a groan to half acknowledge Vriska, heading into the kitchen as she did. Lately Terezi hadn’t been asking what Vriska wanted in the morning, usually it was toast or something as it took less time and let Vriska sleep longer. Terezi on the other hand, had more complex breakfasts. For instance, today she was making vinegar and beetle waffles with a sprinkle of bacon bits, with ranch dressing slathered over them. Really, Vriska swore the stuff Terezi was eating was disgusting, and while Terezi would normally agree, she couldn’t control what she wanted anymore.

 

Part way through making her breakfast, she could hear the teleportation pad they brought from Karkat’s go off. She continued to work on her breakfast as Jade and Dave stepped off the pad.

 

“Hey Terezi.” Dave called out. From the angle, they couldn’t even see Vriska. 

 

“Hey guys, sorry, making breakfast.” She replied, humming as she put the batter in the waffle iron. 

 

“Ooh what’re you making? I could eat!” Jade responded, coming close to her. 

 

“We just ate!” Dave remarked, raising a brow. 

 

“I’m making something that’ll be so good! Some waffles with beetles and vinegar! I’m going to put some bacon on them and then I’m going to coat them in ranch!” Terezi grinned as she started to sprinkle some bacon on the completed waffles so far.

 

“Ooh yum, can I have some? Any chance I can get soy sauce instead of ranch?” Jade asked, grinning. Terezi chuckled and leaned up to grab the soy sauce, pushing it towards her.

 

“You two are disgusting.” Vriska called from the couch, yawning. Dave raised a brow at Vriska.

 

“I didn’t know you were here.” He leaned over and rested his arms on the back of the couch. “You hide well.”

 

“So where’s Aradia and Luntra?” Jade asked, Terezi froze and looked away.

 

“Uh… Well Luntra’s dead.”

 

“Oh good, I hated him.” Jade remarked, drizzling her waffles.

 

“But, the stress he caused, made Aradia lose her grub…” Jade’s eyes widened as she looked at Terezi. “Because Luntra, turned on us and tried to turn us into the law.” She sighed and looked at Jade who had clearly been taking a moment to process this, not noticing her waffles drowning. “Well Karkat and Sollux came and saved us, then we came here. This last week, Aradia was in the bathroom for a long time and she sounded pained…”

 

“But that doesn’t mean-”

 

“When she came out, I couldn’t smell her grub anymore.” Jade bit her lip, feeling sympathy for Aradia. “She got really sad, and I think she’s covering it with anger, so she went to go back to fight with the others.” Terezi sighed, wishing she could’ve helped her friend out.

 

“Oh… my god…” She said, putting the bottle down and covering her mouth.

 

“Oh come on. It’s just a child!” Vriska called out, rolling her eyes. Terezi huffed at her, glaring. She was getting really sick of hearing that.

 

“That’s probably not the best thing to say to two pregnant women, Vriska.”

 

“Or the father of one of those kids.” Dave added, glaring behind his glasses. Vriska shrugged and got up.

 

“Wait a minute…” She said as she thought about it, raising a brow. “You two are having a kid too? Geez what is with you guys and children? That’s all we ever talk about anymore!”

 

“That’s because you ask me how I’m feeling and I tell you something like I’m pissed and then you ask why.” Terezi retorted, rolling her eyes. “And then you make some stupid comment like that’s really stupid and then we end up arguing for a good ten minutes!”

 

“Besides, ours wasn’t planned.” Jade added, starting to eat again.

 

“So why not get rid of it?” Vriska asked dully, getting up to go start her toast. Jade glared at her for the comment, watching her.

 

“Just because it wasn’t planned doesn’t mean it’s unwanted.” Jade told her coldly, glancing at Dave, unable to really read his expression behind the glasses.

 

“Besides, why abort it when we’ll probably have one in a year or two anyway? It’s not like we’re holding out for money.” Dave commented, jumping over the back of the couch to sit where Vriska had been laying.

 

“Also, this way I can help Terezi in any way I can, and then, when we both have our kids they can play together during visits.” Jade smiled at Terezi who glanced back at her and grinned.

 

“Actually, I like that idea a lot! Since there aren’t any other grubs on Alternia, it’d probably be a good idea for my grub to be friends with yours.” Terezi thought out loud, smiling at her.

 

“Or they could end up hating each other.” Vriska remarked, forcing Jade to huff and glare.

 

“It’s amazing that you manage to tolerate Vriska at all, Terezi.” Jade said, glaring at the tall troll girl.


	11. Baby

“Terezi?” Dave called out as he looked for the troll. Jade, John and Rose waited with Sollux in the living room as Dave wandered the hive. Sollux had come back nearly six months ago and relieved Vriska of her job.

 

“Why are you still in here?” Terezi asked, holding one of the baby books Jade had given her as she laid in her bed. She had studied the books she had a few times, specifically the signs of labor as she wouldn’t be able know right away. “You should’ve come out nearly five months ago, says this book! Why won’t you come to mommyyyy?” She whined as Dave opened the door, leaning on the doorframe.

 

“Technically, it came to you, because it’s literally in you.” Terezi set her book aside and groaned as she slid out of bed. Dave came in to help her onto her feet, he had been doing so for Jade, he might as well help her too. 

 

“I think you and I both fucking know I’m not finding that funny.” She told him, huffing. He simply shrugged and moved to help her out of the room. 

 

“Just come downstairs stupid.” She pushed him away from her, still following him.

 

“I’m just pissed okay? The stupid book said this grub was  _ supposed  _ to come out at month nine, it’s month fourteen and it’s still deep in my fucking uterus!” Dave shushed her and moved to open the door, showing them off. Jade smiled at them as she sat on the couch and held her baby, John on one side, Rose on the other as Sollux was watching it from behind. Terezi gasped, entering the room.

 

“You had your kid before me? So unfair!” She came in closer though and watched the baby’s face, smiling softly at it. Jade chuckled and smiled at her blonde child.

 

“Come on Terezi, don’t be so bitter!” John teased, moving a finger to stroke the young child’s face. “Look at it this way! I’m a uncle now!”

 

“Terezi, meet our son, Gavin Strider.” She said, smiling at him before looking up at her face, seeing her practically mesmerized by him.

 

“He’s… really cute…” Terezi replied, a bit jealous, but also very happy for her friend.

 

“Hehe, well I made him myself.” Jade teased, watching him open his small green eyes to look at her. He looked at Terezi before letting out a soft coo and looking up at his mother. Jade smiled and looked at Terezi for a moment. “Want to hold him?”

 

“Wh-what? No, I’m fine, I don’t even know how to hold a baby!” She insisted, shaking her head.

 

“Come on Terezi, he won’t bite.” Rose urged. “When I held him for the first time, he smiled right at me!”

 

“When I held him for the first time he laughed!” John informed, grinning. “I  _ am _ hilarious!”

 

“If we’re talking about it, when Jade let me hold him, he was squealing.” Sollux commented.

 

“That’s because you lifted him with your psionics!” Jade retorted, rolling her eyes. “But I trust Terezi. Besides, she’s going to be a mom soon too, this’ll be a good practice for her! And, there’s enough of us here that I’m sure if something goes wrong, it’ll all be fine.” Jade smiled at Terezi, trying to reassure her.

 

“No! I wouldn’t want to drop him, or scare him, or-”

 

“Terezi just hold your arms out like this.” Dave instructed, moving her arms into the correct position.

 

“But I-” Jade moved to put Gavin into her arms, slowly pulling her hands back, letting Terezi hold him. 

 

“See? It’s not so bad, is it?” Rose asked, watching the baby reach a hand out, before pulling it back.

 

“...No…” Terezi said, sniffling as her eyes began to water. She held the child a bit closer, trying to cool herself down, cursing her hormones again. As the tears began to fall, Terezi moved to hand the child to Dave, wiping her eyes.

 

“What’s going on?” Dave asked as he cradled his child, smiling at his son as he reached for his dad’s nose.

 

“I-I don’t know…” She sniffled as she tried to wipe more of her pouring tears. “I-I think I just really want my grub now… I-I mean look at that precious boy…” Jade chuckled and leaned in, pulling Terezi into a hug.

 

“Oh I know how that feels, I went for a walk a month ago when he was still in me, and I saw this woman with a baby, and I broke into tears. You’re just really excited! That’s fantastic!” Jade assured, looking up at Dave, who was making faces to please and excite his son. “I think it’s a maternal hormone that’s making you cry.” Terezi moved her face to cry into Jade’s shirt.

 

“Not likely. She’s been crying at everything lately. She dropped her phone on the couch yesterday and started sobbing.” Sollux told, half smirking at Terezi, who didn’t even catch it. The thought made her sniffle and cry more.

 

“It was a very emotional time!” She confessed, gripping Jade’s shirt.

 

“You dropped it, like a foot. Geez Karkat should be dealing with this, not me.” Terezi sniffled again. “Oh great…” Sollux regretted saying anything as he listened to Terezi, who started sobbing.

 

“God Terezi, what a crybaby!” John teased. “So glad I haven’t had to deal with thi-”

 

“John, it’s not even worth it to joke around with her.” Sollux informed. “It’ll spur on her tears, or she’ll get really pissed off.” At this point, Dave leaned down to hand his child to Rose, who gladly accepted him, smiling and bouncing him softly.

 

“So, aside from, this.” Jade started, referencing Terezi who continued to cry to her. “How has it been this past month for you, Sollux?”

 

“Eh. I can’t complain more than about Terezi. I got some new games on troll steam, so that’s pretty cool.” John turned to look at him.

 

“Oh yeah? There was a pretty good game on steam I wanted. It’s a really cool horror game, I was excited about it, and then I told my dad about it, and he got it for me!” John said, grinning.

 

“So, can I assume there’s been no word on Kanaya?” Rose asked sadly.

 

“She’s probably still fine with Karkat. I’ll let her know when I return to Karkat though.” Sollux assured, making Rose smile. According to Karkat, he was allowed to return at some point after Terezi gave birth. It was up to Sollux when he wanted then. He was prepared to return , most likely right away after she had her grub, he preferred working with Karkat, especially when it came to babysitting Terezi.

 

“I, appreciate it Sollux.” Rose told, sighing. She very much missed her wife.

 

“S-so, J-Jade? H-how bad was the, you know, pushing the child out?” Terezi wiped her eyes, looking at Jade.

 

“Well, it’s like being stabbed, by a size of a grub, from your vagina. With  _ HOURS _ of pain and cramps before it.” Terezi’s face scrunched up, Jade chuckling and stroking her head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I must apologize for the long skip; but I can't really imagine much else happening during the time. I could've shown Sollux coming and Vriska leaving, but I didn't think that'd be too intresting.


	12. Grub

Terezi whined in her bed, groaning a little. She had been particularly less and less comfortable when she wasn’t in her bed. Tonight after dinner she returned to her room to rest, leaving Sollux to clean up for her. Once he was done, he had checked up on Terezi, making sure she was fine before heading away. It had been an hour now, and Terezi couldn’t sleep. She groaned out as she got up to retrieve yet another blanket, adding onto the four she already had on her bed.

 

Terezi laid back down in her bed, groaning a bit more as she tried to get comfortable. It didn’t take long until she was covered in wetness. She heard a soft pop as she grew wetter, squirming a bit. She leaned up, assuming it was from heat, pushing two of the blankets off before leaning back down, groaning out. It didn’t seem to help at all. In fact it only seemed to get wetter. She let out a soft cry, groaning as more discomforted over washed her; it had come earlier, but she was sure it had cleared up until now. Slowly she peeled away her blankets, hoping the wet sensation would at least lighten up on her. But once she moved the last layer away, the lower half of her bed was damp and wet.

 

Terezi thought about this a bit before wondering if this could be a lead up to labor. In the books Jade had given Terezi, they mentioned some sort of fluids that would come out of her nook. It also mentioned something called contraptions happening all the way through labor, but she had only thought of these as the cramps she’d been having. Though they were admittedly worse and sharper. Not to mention they were coming on and off.

 

“F-finally…” Terezi muttered as she pulled herself from the bed, pulling off her maternity dress. She dropped her panties to leave herself completely naked before laying back down. She could’ve left her dress on, but since she was alone in here, she didn’t particularly think it’d be easy, losing the dress was just a better idea. Just like how bringing the bassinet into her room was a good idea for this time to come.

 

In truth, Terezi was excited for this, ever since Jade had Gavin for about four months now, she was anxious for her grub, that and she had been growing this grub for eighteen months and she was tired of incubating it. She wanted to hold it, in her arms like a normal mother! Though she was also terrified. She was going to push a grub from her nook, and then once that was over, she’d have to be responsible for the grub for sweeps, and even then, probably until she was dead she’d be looking out for it. 

 

Terezi’s thoughts were interrupted as she let out a cry, feeling another contraction. She grunted and bit her lip a little before slowly panting out, trying to remember a few of the breathing exercises Jade said she learned. In a few moments the pain went away, leaving the troll panting.

 

Sollux stretched a bit as he got up, heading to the guest room he stayed in. He stopped and looked out the door, up at the stairs leading to Terezi’s respite, deciding maybe it’d be a good idea to tell her he was headed to bed. Slowly he ascended the stairs, rushing when he heard her cry.

 

“Terezi!?” Sollux called out as he opened the door, causing Terezi to yell angrily at him. “Oh shit Terezi are you-”

 

“GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!” She yelled out again, glaring at him.

 

“Here let me-”

 

“I SAID GET OUT!” She yelled at him, reaching to grab her alarm clock, throwing it at him. He caught it with his psionics, trying to get closer. “OUT!” She threw her lamp at him, panting a bit as she came off another contraction, Sollux quickly ducking to avoid getting nailed by the lamp.

 

“Fine! You can deal with this on your own!” Sollux informed, a bit ticked off, not wanting to deal with her fighting him for however long. He exited the room, heading downstairs for a quick nap. He’d come back in a bit to check on her.

 

Terezi spent nearly two hours, alone, fighting off contractions. She didn’t know when she’d know to push it out, but she felt like it’d be different when it was time. She struggled and squirmed on the bed a bit, finally getting a bit comfortable on the bed, or at least as comfortable as she could be in this position.

 

In about three more hours, Sollux came back up, checking on the grunting libra through the door crack. He sighed and moved to sit next to the door, closing it to muffle her cries and groans. He leaned against the wall, closing his eyes as he listened.

 

Terezi swore this was what true pain felt like, sure it couldn’t get any worse than this. She was harshly corrected once she entered the next phase of labor. Her body seemed to instruct her, something in her body told her when to push, and when it did, she listened, pushing hard. 

 

Nothing Terezi had done before was as painful as this. She cried and screamed out as she pushed, clenching the sheets beneath her as she did, tearing them almost instantly. She spread her legs a bit, pushing and crying louder, shaking and panting as she tried to force the top of the head and horns out. Subconsciously, she was thankful that the grub’s horns were rounded and not sharp. But consciously, she was in too much pain to actually realize it.

 

Tears began to overflow Terezi’s eyes, the top of her body even beginning to lean forward as she pushed. She screamed out more as she continued to push out the head, whining out as the grub slid a bit further out. Terezi clenched her eyes tight as she continued, eyes tearing up more. With final push, she forced the grub the rest of the way, gasping for air and falling back as she felt it pass through her nook. There she laid for a moment, panting and trying to catch her breath.

 

After a few seconds, she heard a loud screech and crying coming from her lower half. Some energy forced Terezi up, letting her look at her grub, despite barely having the strength to sit up. Her small, red grub cried and shrieked, covered in teal blood from it’s mother. She reached to one of her blankets, bringing it over to clean the newborn a bit, wiping away some of the blood for it, before actually going to pick it up, all the while panting. The clock across from her read 4:12, a time she’d make sure to remember for future references. She leaned to cut the umbilical cord with her teeth, but it popped off her grub before she could, the segments of her body having been pushing on it until it was cut, shifting to protect the weakened area.

 

Something in Terezi sparked when she picked the grub up, stroking softly as she leaned back against the pillows to relax. She smiled at the grub, her hand moving to push the middle and lower segments of the body apart a bit to check the gender so she could properly talk to it.

 

“H-hey little girl… You finally came to mommy~” She told her, stroking and holding her grub close, leaning in a bit to nuzzle her small child. The grub shivered a bit and leaned against her mother for warmth. Terezi smiled happily and held her as close as she could, nuzzling her more.

 

“That’s right… I’m your mommy…” She informed, kissing her nose softly. The grub wiggled her nose, blinking up at her mother with her red eyes. “I-I… I love you…” She told her, holding her closer as she nuzzled.

 

Sollux opened the door quietly look, realizing the screaming had stopped. He noticed Terezi sitting where she was, cradling a small grub. “Is it alright to come in now? Or am I going to have a table thrown at me?” She chuckled and shook her head, trying to gesture him over. As he came closer, he noticed the mess between her legs, her placenta, lots of blood, a bit of urine, feces and other fluids left behind. He grimaced as he saw it all, but moved back closer to her, leaning down to see the grub.

 

The grub looked at him, blinking at him as she watched him. “Well hey there little grub…” He spoke softly, reaching his finger closer to her, tickling her chin a little. Her small front claws moved to grip his thumb, moving to bite his finger with her sharp little teeth. He winced and rolled his eyes, looking at Terezi.

 

“I see she has your teeth.” He told her, pulling his hand back.

 

“Hey, she doesn’t know any better.” Terezi chuckled, cradling her grub. “You, wanna hold her?” She asked, looking up at him.

 

“After that, I think I’m good for a bit.” He remarked, moving to ruffle Terezi’s hair and leaning up.

 

“Alright, alright. That just means I get to hold her longer.” Terezi grinned, snuggling her.

 

“So… What’re you going to name her?” Sollux asked, looking back at her.

 

“Well… I think… maybe… I want to name her after Karkat…”

 

“You’re going to name her Karkat?”

 

“No! Something close to Karkat, not Karkat exactly. Maybe something cute like Karina.”

 

“That seems like a nice name, Terezi. Karina Pyrope?” He asked, heading to the closest to pull out a towel, grabbing a set of sheets as he was there.

 

“No. Karina Vantas. Honestly, it sounds better.” She stroked her grub, smiling at her.

 

“Yeah, but knowing you, I expected you to want her to be your grub, name and all.” He carried them over, setting them on the end table.”Do you mind if I clean you up down there a bit? It’s a real mess.”

 

“But I’m also naming her after him, might as well give her his last name.” She shrugged and moved a bit to allow better access. “Go ahead, but… be careful. I’m still really fucking sore down there…” He leaned down, holding her breath and trying to not look at any of the mess as he attempted to clean her nook up. He could’ve left her like this and had her clean herself up, but he knew she was tired and probably could use a rest.

 

“Alright. It’s up to you I guess.” He gently wiped a bit, trying his best to clean up. “I guess this means I should be leaving soon. Karkat’s gonna need me, and I can tell him all about his little grub.” Terezi shook her head.

 

“I know this entire time I’ve been arguing I could handle myself, but Sollux, really. You might need to stay a few more days. Jade told me this sore, pained feeling is gonna stay for a little bit. I don’t know if I’d be able to defend us if you left today.” She groaned out a bit. “At least stay until the humans come in the next few days, then we’ll decide if I can be alone again.” He nodded at her as he pulled the towel away, grimacing and tossing the towel in the garbage instead of even attempting to wash it off. Terezi hummed and looked at her small girl. “If I remember right… One of those books told me that something I should do early with her is to feed her.”

 

“If you want I can step out.” Sollux remarked, coming back to her, waiting for her response before continuing.

 

“Sollux, you just cleaned my nook, I don’t think it’ll be too bad for you to see me feed my grub, or attempt to.” She moved her grub a bit so she could get close to her breast. “Come on… Jade said you’re supposed to know…” She urged, Karina leaning to sniff a bit before opening her mouth to latch on and suck a bit until the milk began to flow into her mouth. As she did, Sollux used his psionics to lift Terezi and her grub up, pushing the blankets off and pulling up the sheets, grabbing them by the corners and lifting them so the mess would stay contained in the sheets. He tossed them in them in the garbage as well, grabbing the two blankets also dirty from her birth and tossing them, using his psionics to put on the new sheets. 

 

“God Terezi, you really make a mess.” He told her, setting her back down on the clean sheets, pulling one of the blankets over her legs to keep her covered up.

 

“Hey, if I had the chance to make it cleaner, I would’ve. I didn’t enjoy my legs in that mess…” She pouted but looked at him. “Thanks for cleaning it up though. I’m sorry I couldn’t help you much…” She said, looking away.

 

“You also just gave birth, you look really tired.” He covered his nose and picked up the trash. “Now, I’m taking this to town to dump so this smell doesn’t get everywhere. I’ll be back.” He told her, carrying it out. She nodded to him, watching her grub drink before popping off her. She smiled at her before the grub yawned, nuzzling up to her mother to sleep. She yawned as she looked at her, moving to set her in the bassinet, covering her sleeping body with a small grub blanket.

 

Terezi smiled warmly as she lied down, snuggling herself into the blankets, watching her grub sleep. She let out a soft groan, falling asleep as she watched her child.


	13. Introduction

Jade came up Terezi’s stairs, looking for the libra. She held Gavin close as she looked, Rose downstairs with Sollux. “Terezi?” Jade called, moving to open her respite door. She looked in as saw the libra’s back. 

 

“Yeah I’m in here Jade.” She called back, humming peacefully. Gavin let out a soft coo as he reached for the troll’s back.

 

“Aw, well now you have to come here, he wants you to come to him~” Jade cooed and grinned at her.

 

“Alright alright, I’m coming” She assured, turning and coming closer, Karina drinking from her mother.

 

“So why didn’t you just tell her Terezi had her grub?” Rose asked, leaning back in her chair.

 

“Terezi wanted to surprise her like Jade surprised her. I didn’t say it was a good idea, she just told me to do it. I might as well, it’s not like I’m going to be here with her much longer. Hell she won’t even let me tell Karkat anything about the grub aside from the fact that  _ it _ was born.” Rose looked at him quick.

 

“You’re leaving soon? If it’s not too much trouble, would you be able to give Kanaya a letter from me?” She asked, looking at him.

 

“Sure thing. It’s not too much of a problem for me.” He told her, watching her pull out some paper and a pen to start writing.

 

“Aw, Terezi! You finally had your grub!” Jade smiled and came closer, her son reaching for Terezi’s grub now. Terezi chuckled and stood still now, wanting her grub to at least finish drinking before being disturbed. “What’s the grub’s name?” Jade asked, looking up at her.

 

“I named her Karina, it’s supposed to be sort of like Karkat’s…” Terezi smiled and held her closer.

 

“Aw, Gavin, look at this cute little girl!” Jade said, nuzzling her baby. Karina pulled off her mother’s breast, blinking at the new people. Terezi moved to hold Karina in one hand to shift her dress’ sleeve back up. “Terezi? Is that one of your maternity dresses still?”

 

“Well all of my normal shirts burst, and I can’t really get out of the forest to go get new clothes. So for now I’m stuck with these dresses. But hey, it’s pretty easy for me to nurse.” She told her, carrying Karina closer, her claw reaching for Gavin. 

 

“I’ll get you some shirts or something next time I come by then, okay? Then maybe I can find you something with nursing flaps or a low neckline.” Gavin reached and grabbed Karina’s claw, holding onto it with his hand. Karina blinked and looked at him, the two little ones staring at each other.

 

“Aw, look at that, they’re so cute!” Terezi squealed, watching them. The children stared at each other a bit more, then separating from each other. Terezi nuzzled her grub as Jade kissed her baby.

 

“I bet they’ll be good friends!” Jade said, grinning at Terezi. She turned towards the door. “Let’s go downstairs then, I bet Sollux and Rose are bored out of their minds.” She started to head downstairs, Terezi moving to follow behind her. When they arrived downstairs, Sollux sat in a chair, waiting for Rose to finish her letter. 

 

“Hey Rose.” Terezi greeted, coming closer to her, trying to figure out what she was doing. Rose looked up at her, smiling at her.

 

“Hello Terezi.” She moved a hand closer to tickle the grub a little. “Hello there…”

 

“Karina” Terezi helped, smiling.

 

“Ah, hello there little Karina, you’re rather adorable” She told her, smiling at the small grub. “May I?” She asked, Terezi nodding, coming closer to hand her the grub. Rose smiled and stroked Karina’s hair softly

 

“Just, you know, careful, she’s really small and fragile…” Terezi reminded, fidgeting a little. She knew Rose could handle this, especially since she’d been living with Dave and Jade, she probably got to hold the baby a lot. However Terezi still worried, she was trusting her precious, tiny little grub in someone else’s hands, the grub she carried in her for eighteen months, then spent a few hours pushing out of her. 

 

“I know Terezi, I got her.” Rose assured, showing her. “She’s very small… I’m surprised…” Rose commented, rocking her gently.

 

“I know… Grubs are about that size and grow a bit in a sweep before they change…” Terezi informed, still rather anxious.

 

“Before they change?” Rose asked, bouncing a little. She did it with Gavin to make him laugh so she thought she’d enjoy it.

 

“When a grub is a day before their wiggling day, they make themselves a recuperacoon and spend their last day in it.” She frowned, watching Rose bounce, getting a bit more nervous.

 

“Then what happens?” Jade asked, smiling at their antics.

 

“Exactly a sweep from from when they were, well, usually hatched, they break out of their recuperacoon and climb out of the slime as a child.” Rose could pick up on Terezi’s increasingly stressed state, moving closer to hand Terezi her grub, Terezi almost instantly calming herself down as she held her grub close, feeling more like she could be safer.

 

“Wow… that sounds, I suppose interesting.” Rose remarked, watching the grub reach for her mother’s face. Terezi leaned in, giving into her grub’s wishes as she nuzzled her. Karina nuzzled back her mother, imitating her as she grabbed her mother’s glasses, pulling them off of her face and dropping them. Terezi gasped and leaned to try to catch it with one hand as the other held her grub close, the glass shattering on the ground. She frowned and sighed, looking at Rose.

 

“Would you mind?” She asked, moving to hand Karina over to Rose when she nodded, moving to carefully lean down to start to pick up the glass, frowning as she thought of the history these glasses must’ve had. She picked up a particularly large piece, catching her reflection in the glass. She nearly put it with the others before she caught Karina’s reflection in it as she leaned over Rose’s arm to watch her mother. Terezi sighed and looked away, putting it into a pile with the others.

 

“Terezi? Are you okay?” Jade asked, tilting her head a little. She just suddenly seemed so out of it, something had to be up.

 

“I, I’m… Well I’m just realizing something…” Terezi stood up. “Sollux would you possibly?” He shrugged and started to clean it up as Terezi took her grub back.

 

“Well it doesn’t sound like a good realization…” Terezi shook her head.

 

“It’s that… I spent my whole life, following justice, trying to become just like my ancestor… And look at me, I’m nothing like her! She fought for this planet’s version of justice, the kind I can’t even fight for anymore! Every case is the same! The higher blood always wins! Now look at me, I’ve forsaken my entire belief, and I’m even running from the law, and raising a grub!” She tickled her little girl, smiling at her. “I love her, but I’m not who I spent my life wanting to be…” Rose smiled softly at Terezi, putting a hand on her shoulder.

 

“But that’s great Terezi! You’re your own person! It’s great that you had an idol, but you’re learning from their mistakes and moving onto being yourself, Redglare might’ve been great, but she’s not you, and that shouldn’t make you sad, that should make you happy.” Terezi smiled at Rose, moving to brush a bit of Karina’s hair. “You’re doing great things.”

 

“Thanks Rose. I mean, yeah I know all this. It’s just a bit startling to see how much I’m changing.” Karina leaned to nibble on her mother’s finger with her sharp teeth, watching her as she did.

 

“No problem Terezi.” Rose replied, closing up her paper and handing it to Sollux. “And thank you Sollux.”

 

“What’s going on there?” Jade asked, looking between the two.

 

“Well if Sollux is returning soon, I thought he’d be nice enough to send a letter to my beloved.” Terezi blinked and thought for a moment.

 

“That’s not a bad idea…” Jade raised a brow and looked at Sollux.

 

“You’re leaving soon?” She asked, receiving a nod from the tall troll. “Well…”

 

“You want me to give a letter to someone?” He asked, dryly, rolling his eyes.

 

“What? No, I was just going to say be careful, and good luck.” She smiled warmly at Sollux. “Make sure you come back safe, we might not talk all that much, but it’d be a shame for you to die!” Jade enforced, Sollux offering her a soft smile with a slight nod.

 

“I’ll be careful.”


	14. Switch

Aradia sighed as she moved a few sticky notes around, trying to help plan out Karkat’s next week. She had gotten to the point where she would now, not only plan out his schedule, but also went out with him when he went to lead an attack, or if he had to go out and do anything. It was much more appealing to her now that she felt more rage and sadness than before.

 

Aradia blinked as she looked up, spotting Sollux approaching her, his coat flapping behind him. She offered him a soft smile, looking back down at her work. “Hello Sollux.” She greeted, the taller troll nodded back at her in response.

 

“Hey Aradia.” Sollux came closer, moving to sit on her desk. “How’ve you been since I’ve been gone?” He asked, glancing over her work.

 

“I could be better.” She admitted, watching him. “So, should I assume, Terezi had her grub…?” She asked, looking away.

 

“She did.” He told her, looking around for Karkat.

 

“What did she have? Is it cute? Is she a better mother than I would’ve been?” She asked, rather intrigued to hear.

 

“Calm down, calm down.” Sollux looked around a bit more. “I promised her I wouldn’t tell Karkat what she had. She’s going to surprise him when he comes back.” He looked around one more time before pulling his phone out. “Just promise you won’t tell him.” He said, opening up something. “She had a girl, and dubbed her a pretty shit name, Karina. It’s, I suppose, eh.” He told her, moving his phone to show her a picture of Terezi cuddling Karina. “As for her mothering, I can’t tell you. She’s had the girl for a week now, she’s still pretty emotional. I’m assuming from the effects of actually having the kid.”

 

Aradia moved her hand to move the screen a bit, blinking as she saw the picture, feeling a small pain in her heart. “She does look, happy… I bet I would’ve been that happy if I had gotten to be her.” She muttered softly, trying to be quiet enough so Sollux wouldn’t hear her.t even Sollux could hear. She moved to swipe a picture over, looking at Terezi nursing her grub. She looked away for a moment, not sure how much more she could handle.

 

“She’s been spending a lot of time waking up to feed that kid, she cries a lot too.” He told her, leaning up off the desk. “I assume he’s in there?” He asked, pointing to the door behind Aradia. She nodded as she continued to face away from him. He sighed and moved to walk into the room.

 

Karkat stood at his table, reading over his reports for the day. He sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. He signed a report and flipped it over to look at the next one. He only signed the reports so he could keep track of which ones he had already read through. He looked up as his door creaked, looking back down before quickly getting up, realizing who it was.

 

“Sollux? You sure took your fucking time.” He remarked, crossing his arms.

 

“Hey, you said wait until she had the grub to come back.” Sollux reminded, watching him walk out from behind the desk. “She just had it a week ago!”

 

“She just held onto it, didn’t she?” He asked, chuckling to himself. “Anyway, this is great timing. I’m planning an attack tonight, and I need my strongest trolls.” Karkat didn’t enjoy admitting that Sollux was a strong troll, but he needed him.

 

“Karkat, I do have one concern here. Towards your matesprit and your grub.” Kanaya entered the room, carrying a teapot and cup, heading to the desk. “You’re drinking tea?”

 

“...She got me to taste some of this shitty mud and it tastes better than I thought it had. It helps with the stress.” Karkat admitted as Kanaya poured him a cup. “And your concern is?”

 

“I think someone should be sent back to her.”

 

“What?!” Karkat asked, rather loudly, glaring a little. “Why the fuck do you want to go back to her?!”

 

“What? I don’t! I meant someone else, dipshit.” Sollux corrected, rolling his eyes. “It’s just, she’s been really tired waking up to take care of the grub all the time, she probably wouldn’t put up that much of a fight, and she needs someone to do any shopping she needs, she can’t just leave the grub alone, nor can she take it with her.” Sollux thought a bit more. “You don’t need someone to stay all the time, just to come by every few days or so.”

 

“I… I knew that!” Karkat snapped, thinking a bit of who would be a good choice. He picked up his cup as Kanaya headed to the door, sipping his tea before it hit him. “Kanaya!” He said loud, standing up. She stopped and turned her head to look at him.

 

“Yes Karkat?” She asked, she had been hoping he’d send her, as much as she enjoyed working with him for all this, she wanted to go back. She could teach Terezi a few things she knew about grubs, sure, but she was much more happy that it’d mean she’d be able to see her wife again.

 

“I want you to go to Terezi.” He told her, Sollux reaching into his pocket. “I suppose if you want you can stay at your own hive, it’s not far. Just help Terezi where she needs help.” She smiled and nodded. 

 

“I can do that, thank you.” She turned to approach him, prepared to hug him when Sollux held out the two envelopes for both.

 

“One for Karkat and one for Kanaya.” He told them, both trolls taking them from him. “Now, I’ll leave you to it.” He told Karkat, heading to the door again.


	15. Help

“I know you have these cute little teeth, but that doesn’t really mean you  _ have _ to bite mommy.” Terezi groaned out as she sat on her bed, breastfeeding her grub, once again. She enjoyed the bond she had with Karina, more than anything, but she could definitely do without the teeth. They were sharp, and they just made her bleed a bit. Karina pulled off her mother’s breast, giggling a little as she nuzzled to her. Terezi sighed and nuzzled her back, there was no way she could stay mad at her.

 

Terezi jumped as she heard a knock on the door. She pulled up her neckline, covering her bosom as she snuck to the window, holding her grub to her. She looked out the window towards the door, moving a bit before she spotted Kanaya, confused. She had received no warning, nor hint that anyone else would be coming. She wasn’t even quite sure why she was here. Nevertheless, she quickly went down to the door, moving to unlock the door. She opened it as soon as she could, grinning at Kanaya.

 

“Kanaya!” Terezi greeted, grinning. “I’d give you a hug, but I’m sort of-”

 

“Oh!” Kanaya leaned down to look at Karina closer, wiggling her finger at her. “Look at you! You’re really cute!” She cooed, pretending to smooch at the grub. She squealed out before giggling and reaching for Kanaya’s face, papping her cheeks. Kanaya chuckled softly, smiling at her. “So who’s this girl, Terezi? What do you call her?” She asked, glancing up at the libra, making a face at the dress she wore and how it hung off of her. “And what the hell is that outfit?”

 

“Well I’ve named her Karina.” She snickered at the reaction Kanaya gave. “And what do you really expect? My other clothes burst when I was pregnant!” She pouted a bit. “It’s not my fault! The only thing I know that still fits me is the sweater I sleep in, but I don’t even have any pants or skirts to wear with it!”

 

“Oh gosh. I’ll fix that, don’t you worry.” She slowly pulled away from the little girl, straightening back up.” If you give me a design and your measurements, I’ll make you a brand new outfit.” Terezi moved aside to allow Kanaya to enter.

 

“That’d be great, but, not to be shitty, but, why are you here?” Kanaya entered, Terezi closing the door behind her. “Surely it’s not just to see my grub…”

 

“It’s certainly a good reason to visit, but no. Karkat sent me to take care of you while all the war goes on.” Kanaya informed, turning to the shorter troll.

 

“What? I can handle myself!” Terezi argued defensively, huffing. “I’m doing just fine! Why the hell does that man think I can’t handle myself?! What can you do that I can’t anyway?”

 

“Well, for one, if something happens to you, I can be another defense to the grub.” Kanaya shrugged. “Or at least care for her if you fall protecting her.” Terezi huffed, sure that wouldn’t happen. “I can also go run your errands for you.” Terezi was about to retort when Kanaya continued. “Because you can’t bring the only grub on Alternia out with you while you go shopping. It’d be very dangerous for both of you. Nor can you leave her alone.” Terezi thought for a point to argue but begrudgingly gave in and sighed.

 

“Ugh, fine, fine. So why did he send you then? There has to be reasons he chose you.” Kanaya shrugged, but thought.

 

“Perhaps since I know how to sew, I can make you new clothes, for you and for your little girl when she gets older.” She smiled, moving to tickle Karina again, who giggled and squirmed, pressing against her mother as she did. “I also know how to cook and garden.” Kanaya had never tasted Terezi’s cooking, but she was sure it wasn’t very good.

 

“I can cook just fine! In fact some of the others say I cook really well!” She huffed. “And why would gardening help?”

 

“Because you could put a garden downstairs and then have a place to get some food, that means less having to go out and get your food. It will also be ten times better if you grow it yourself.” Kanaya insisted, looking back up at Terezi.

 

“I suppose… I guess it’s not any work for me…”

 

“No, Terezi, I’m teaching you to do it, I won’t take care of it.” Terezi frowned, trying to find another reason.

 

“Well, I guess it would give Karina a chance to spend time outside… Fine, I guess?” Terezi replied, hesitantly, Kanaya smiling. Karina turned away from Kanaya, moving to try to climb further into her mother’s hold, Terezi rolling her eyes, she was already as close as she could be.

 

“Karina, really, you’re already fully in mommy’s arms, calm down.” She cooed, moving to peck her face. Kanaya chuckled and watched this, a soft smile on her face.

 

“Mommy huh? I would’ve thought you’d go something more formal like mother.” Terezi looked at her, a small blush on her face. She hadn’t expected to be called out for it.

 

“W-well! I just thought it’d be easier than- no, I don’t know why, I just thought it’d be cuter to hear a grub or child call me that, it sounds like something a grub would say!”

 

“I get it, I get, I’m just giving you a tough time, calm down.” Kanaya assured, moving to put a hand on her shoulder.

 

“Ugh, I’m still just a wee bit emotional. I really hate it…” Terezi admitted, Karina trying to lean up a bit for a nuzzle. “But you! You’re just so affectionate!” Terezi cooed at her, nuzzling her in response. Karina pressed to her, squealing.

 

“She’s really excitable, she must be your child!” Kanaya smiled, Terezi chuckling.

 

“You’re probably right,” Terezi replied, smiling. “But, apparently Jade says that this is unusual, babies, apparently, they usually just sleep, shit and eat at this age, this is advanced for a baby! All I’ve seen Gavin do really is sleep.” Terezi nuzzled Karina again, making her giggle. Grubs were clearly more developed than babies, probably since they take longer to develop in womb.

 

“Who, is Gavin?” Kanaya asked, a bit confused by the name.

 

“Oh, right, Jade had a baby too, with Dave. Gavin is their child.” Terezi explained, watching her grub, who stared at Kanaya now. Slowly she raised a claw and reached for her, wanting to familiarize herself with her, she couldn’t be bad if she had been talking to her mom this long. Kanaya smiled at her and leaned down, stroking her claw softly.

 

“May I hold her?” Terezi nodded and moved to hand Karina to Kanaya, who blinked and looked at her, sniffing a bit. Kanaya softly chuckled as she rocked her, watching her closely.

 

“You’re a lucky troll, Terezi. She’s so cute…” She smiled at her, staring at the grub who stared at her.

 

“I know, I love her so much…” Terezi let out a soft sigh in happiness, watching the grub yawn a bit. She let out a whine as she started to get tired again, reaching for her mom again. Terezi smiled as Kanaya handed her back, stepping back. Terezi softly began to hum to the little one, watching her.

 

“Well, I’ll return tomorrow, Terezi. Please have the outfit design ready by then, alright?” Terezi blinked and tilted her head.

 

“What? Where are you going?”

 

“I’m headed home, Karkat said it’d be alright if I stayed home and just came to visit every few days, just to make sure you’re fine and well stocked. Speaking of, is there anything you need now?”

 

“Well I suppose I could use grub diapers, Jade gave me a few of the ones she keeps for her child, and I had some from when I wore diapers, but I’m running low…” Kanaya nodded.

 

“I’ll try to find some for you then, Terezi.” She smiled, thinking a bit about where she could look. She might be able to find some in her hive, and maybe raid a few from Karkat’s, but finding grub diapers themselves might be hard with no other grubs on the planet.

 

“Jade said there’s some sort of reuseable diapers, like underwear. They’re probably gross to clean, but it could be a last resort…” Terezi suggested, Kanaya gagging at the thought.

 

“S-sure... “ She said, not too keen on the idea. “Well, I’ll be back tomorrow,” She leaned down to ruffle Karina’s hair. “I’ll see you tomorrow, little girl. And you take care too, Terezi.” Kanaya waved as she opened the door, walking out the door. Terezi watched her get on the lift and move down before closing her door, locking it and carrying her grub towards her respite to put her to sleep.


	16. Caring

Kanaya sat in Terezi’s hive, finishing up the breakfast Terezi had made her, while Terezi looked out the window. She watched as snow fell from the sky, starting to cover the forest. She wanted to take Karina outside to play in her first snow, but Kanaya urged her not to, saying it’d be too cold. Terezi thought that it’d definitely be worth it though, sure Karina would be happy. She had been thinking if there was anything she could do for Karina to keep her warm.

 

By now, Terezi had gotten her new outfit, a tight black shirt and shorts, with knee high red boots and a small red jacket with her symbol all across her chest, which was as much as her jacket covered. Her jacket couldn’t even reach around her bust all the way, but it didn’t matter much, there was no way to close it anyway. Along with those, Terezi wore a long part of cloth, almost like a long skirt, but it was only a back of it, teal, and connected to her only by the waist, which was held on by a grey sash, something she chose to represent Karkat.

 

Once Kanaya had finished her outfit, she finally took the time to revamp her own outfit, taking a turtleneck and cutting off the sleeves, to leave it with no sleeves, then adding her symbol of course. She discarded her belt and replaced it with a purple sash, she had thought it looked good on her when she had taken Eridan’s cape. Lastly, she took a version of her skirt and cut one side, leaving the bottom into ruffles, then finally making it into a mermaid skirt.

 

Frankly, Kanaya felt like their outfits deserved to be updated, and in fact was working on new outfits for all her friends, not trying to change them much, trying only to tweak them slightly. She was most excited to make Karina clothes, she had always wanted to make a kid’s outfit, she was planning to make Karina some winter wear to keep her warm, but she needed time to do so.

 

Terezi sighed out as she watched the sky still, before thinking and leaning up, headed up to her room. She went to one of her closets, pulling out the box of grub stuff she had from her own childhood, knowing where the box had been since she had been in it lately. She opened it up and pushed a few things around, moving past her clothes, trying to find a few specific things. In moments she pulled out her old clothes, trying to clear the clutter to better find them. Once she pushed aside a small rubber gavel that squeaked, she found what she was looking for. She got up and approached Karina’s bassinet, sitting down on her bed next to her, watching her sleep.

 

“Karina…” Terezi cooed out, trying to softly wake her up. Karina whimpered a little as she stretched her legs out, opening her eyes softly, looking around before she spotted her mom, pushing herself up and reaching for her as she yawned. Terezi smiled and came closer, lifting her up and sitting down on the bed, laying her grub across her lap. “I have a surprise for you!” Terezi told her, grinning as she picked up some booties and pulling them onto Karina’s claws, who blinked and moved to bite at one. She picked up a hat and put it onto her head, chuckling as she tried to bite more at the booties.

 

Terezi lifted her up and carried her downstairs, opening a door to the stairs she had Sollux install, just in case and sometimes for convenience, carrying her grub down it as she opened the door out of the trunk, carrying her grub to some snow, setting her down in the snow. The grub let out a squeak at the coldness before kicking a bit at the snow, blinking as she did, kicking the white powdery substance in front of her to test it. Karina let out a squeal, moving to jump into the snow, rolling into it.

 

“Someone’s having fun!” She giggled, leaning down, kneeling next to her, scooping up some snow to dump on the grub, who squealed and turned to her, tackling her. Terezi snickered, playing it over the top and pushing herself back. “Oh! You got me!” She moved to get her hands around her, lifting her up and sit up.

 

“You’re such a cutie!” Terezi giggled and leaned up to nuzzle her grub. She cradled her grub again, smiling at her before stiffening at the sound of snow crunching behind her. She held her grub closer before thinking. “I’ll have you know you’re trespassing.” There was a small chuckle before a response.

 

“Purrezi, it’s me! No need to worry!” Terezi blinked and turned around to see Nepeta standing before her. She hadn’t seen Nepeta in so long, from around the time she was being impregnated with Karkat’s child. Since she had seen her last, Nepeta’s hair had grown out, which surprised Terezi. She never took Nepeta to be the kind of girl to grow her hair, they were both short haired girls last time, but now they both had long hair, and frankly it was strange to think about for her. Nepeta’s coat looked different, with the lack of sleeves, but other than that, she was the same old Nepeta.

 

“Nepeta?” Terezi got off the ground, holding Karina close, who blinked at the other troll, wiggling in her mother’s arms. “Shit, it’s been a long time! How are you?”

 

“I’ve been pretty good I suppose, Equius’ been a bit too clingy lately, but other than that, fine. I went to Karkat's hive a few months ago, but mew weren’t there, and I’ve finally found mew! You look really different though!” She blinked then looked at her outfit. “New hair, new outfit, are you really Purrezi?”

 

“I am! Kanaya made me a new outfit, and yeah, I know, I need a haircut!” Terezi grinned.

 

“I don’t know, I like it this way! It fits you!” Nepeta smiled and came closer, hugging Terezi. Karina squeaked out as she got smooshed between Nepeta’s chest and her mommy’s breasts. Nepeta quickly pulled away from Terezi, leaning down. “Sorry, sorry little girl!” Terezi started to stroke her grub, smiling.

 

“It’s alright Karina, she didn’t mean it!” She assured, chuckling.

 

“Karina Pyrope huh? Interesting name!” Nepeta remarked, stroking her belly softly.

 

“Karina Vantas actually. My small little grub, she’s already two months old!” Terezi remarked, already proud to talk about her. 

 

“Only two months? You got pregnant so long ago!”

 

“I know, I just had her last month, Nubday the eleventh, at 4:12am, it was such a good time… Aside from all that pain…” She trailed off, staring at her child happily.

 

“I’m amazed you remember-” Terezi moved behind Nepeta when she heard more snow crunch under some shoes, trying to identify who it was, while trying to protect her grub.

 

“Nepeta. I was worried about you!” Equius called from behind. “I’ve told you I don’t want you wandering off during this dangerous period.” He didn’t enjoy Nepeta leaving his hive during the war, it was dangerous for a low blooded troll. Terezi bit her lip, holding her grub to her close, she knew Equius would flip out about it soon. “And hello to you, Terezi.”

 

“What?! I can leave if I please!” She told him, huffing angrily at him. He sighed and shook his head.

 

“I do this, because I care, Nepeta.” Equius told her, approaching his moirail. Terezi held her grub closer, afraid for her. She could probably fight Equius if she needed, but she couldn’t do so while holding Karina. Karina let out a small whine, squirming at her mother’s tight hold. Terezi relaxed her hold a little, trying not to cause her pain. However her whine caught Equius’ attention, who looked over at her, spotting the grub.

 

“Terezi! You’re the troll they’ve been looking for?!” Terezi bit her lip, unsure of what he’d do now. Nepeta gasped and watched him pull his phone out, frowning.

 

“Equius, what are you doing?” Nepeta asked, Terezi silent as she tried to think before speaking.

 

“Equius, please, don’t turn us in, I’m just a troll trying to raise this grub, she needs me! You can’t tell them!” She pleaed, nuzzling her grub for emphasis. “They’ll hurt her and separate us, don’t let that happen!”

 

“I’m sorry Terezi. I thought you were a troll of the law. I thought you were smarter than this. The highbloods need you to keep the high, prestige lineage of their kind afloat. They’re on the lookout for you. I will serve them and lead them to you, as is my role.” He told her, dialing a number, Nepeta slapping the phone from his hand before he could finish.

 

“Equius! No! You can’t do this!” Equius gave a slight shake of his head.

 

“Nepeta, this is not your concern. Now be good.” He instructed, reaching for his phone.

 

“Equius! No! Purrezi is my friend!”

 

“Nepeta! I will not have this argument with you.”

 

“Equius, you will listen to me! I have been doing so many things for you lately, I don’t fight for the lower bloods like I want, you don’t like that. I don’t leave your hive very often because it worries you. But I  _ try! _ I try so hard to make you happy and to keep you from worrying! I know you have to uphold the order and spectrum, and do as the higher bloods want, but come on Equius! Give me one thing! Terezi’s not doing anything bad, she’s just trying to love and raise her grub, let her do it, Equius!” Terezi blinked and smiled, nuzzling her grub and approaching.

 

“Thank you, Nepeta.” She leaned on her to try to show her her appreciation, unable to hug her with her grub in hand. Equius looked at Nepeta, then shifted to look between Terezi and Karina.

 

“Nepeta. I do not approve of this. But.” He sighed. “As your moirail, I will do this one thing for you.” He looked again at Terezi. “I don’t approve of your use of this with the mutant blood. But I will not rat you out.” He said dryly, Karina reaching for Equius.

 

“Thanks Equius. I’m sure if she could understand, she’d be grateful.” Terezi replied, not too keen on how he told her that.

 

“That being said. I would like to give something to the grub, a gesture to show Nepeta that I care.” Nepeta blinked, watching him intently as he pulled out a small, stuffed hoofbeast, one that looked rather big compared to the little grub. He handed it to her, who squealed and grabbed at it, hugging it to her small body. Terezi smiled at her, looking up at Equius.

 

“Thank you Equius, that’s, really sweet.” She replied, nuzzling her grub, grinning. She told him, giggling softly.

 

“It is!” Nepeta chuckled and hugged Equius. “Well played Equius!” Nepeta smiled as Equius hugged her back, looking at the plush. He had had her since he was a young grub himself, he loved her, but he figured Nepeta would appreciate the gesture, and she would be going to a good home. Just watching the grub hug his favorite mare plush, brought some memories back to him.

 

“Hey! Don’t forget about me!” Terezi whined as Karina’s reaction to her nuzzle was to nuzzle up to the plush, leaving Terezi a little jealous. “So, uh, would you two like to come in?” She asked, looking up at both of them.

 

“That would be mice! Let’s go! I want to see her setup!” Nepeta grinned as Terezi started to head to the door, Equius following behind her.


	17. Preparation

Jade picked Gavin up, grabbing her diaper bag, along with a few diaper pack she picked up to help her friend. Rose came to join her with a closed bag, some paper in the bag with a pen in case she had a spark of genius and wanted to record it. Originally Dave was supposed to accompany the girls, he had been interested in meeting the young grub, but his manager had booked him for a signing, despite his wishes against it. To compensate, he bought the young grub a rocking horse, something would be able to enjoy in a year or so. It was rather similar to the one his brother had given Gavin, which had given him the idea; however, this one a brown patches instead of pure black, and Gavin’s had a black saddle on the back.

 

“Rose are you ready?” Jade asked, Rose leaning down to lift up the rocking horse. Jade carried her son to the transportilizar, waiting for Rose to get closer. Once she was close enough, she pushed the red button, transporting them to Terezi’s hive, who sat in a rocking chair she got from the old grub shop, rocking her little grub happily.

 

“Hey Rose, Jade.” Terezi greeted, her grub’s eyes were closed as she leaned against her mother, holding onto her new hoofbeast plush.

 

“Aw! Terezi! Look at you being all motherly!” Jade cooed, leaning down as she watched the grub. “Where did you get the stuffed animal?” She asked, Rose setting the rocking horse down, reminding Jade with it. “Oh! Right, Dave wanted to come, but he got busy, so he got you this little rocking horse for Karina!” Terezi looked up at her as she continued to rock in her chair.

 

“That’s, really good…” Terezi said softly, groaning as she got herself up. “Karina’ll love it when she gets old enough for it!” She approached it, kneeling down to let her grub sniff the snout of the horse. She squealed and leaned to nuzzle it before leaning back to her mom.

 

“I think she likes it now!” Jade chuckled, smiling at her. “When did she get that little horse? It’s so cute!” Jade chuckled, heading to a blank corner of the room, spreading out a blanket.

 

“Equius and Nepeta were by, and Equius gave that to… What are you doing over there?” Terezi asked, watching Jade set up a corner. She laid out a few toys she kept for her son, setting him down softly.

 

“Making a kiddie corner, they can play over here!” Jade told her, grinning.

 

“I suppose that makes sense.” Terezi came over, setting Karina down on the pad, who sniffed at Gavin again, setting her hoofbeast down to lean on Gavin, giggling. “Oh, Rose” Terezi started, nearly forgetting Rose. “There’s a surprise for you behind the counter in the kitchen.” Rose raised a brow and set her bag down, heading to the kitchen.

 

From behind the counter, Kanaya stood up, a few tears in her eyes, but a big smile on her face. “H-Hello Rose.” She said, moving to hug Rose tight. Rose’s eyes were wide for a moment, surprised by the sudden appearance of her wife. In a few moments, Rose broke down into tears, hugging Kanaya tight, burying her face into Kanaya’s chest, holding onto her tighter.

 

“Kanaya really wanted to surprise her” Terezi remarked, grinning. “She also wants you two to help me prepare for the 12th perigee!”

 

“12th, perigee?” Jade questioned, tilting her head a little as she sat down next to her baby.

 

“It’s a holiday that we trolls celebrate by decorating and giving presents.” Terezi explained, sitting across from Jade on the blanket, her grub abandoning Jade’s baby to rush to Terezi, trying to climb on her. “Lusii are the one who get the leavings and help their troll decorate, so Kanaya thought as basically Karina’s lusus, I should get the droppings!” Jade chuckled.

 

“That’s adorable I’ll hel- wait. Leavings? Droppings? That sounds like you’re just talking about feces.” Jade said dryly, making a face at this.

 

“Yeah, why, what else would we decorate?” Terezi asked, lifting her grub to nuzzle her, earning a soft coo from her grub.

 

“A tree! We decorate trees!” Terezi thought about it for a moment, wondering how that would be. It would certainly be less disgusting.

 

“That just sounds weird!” Terezi remarked, shrugging.

 

“I promise you we won’t help unless you get a tree and not a pile of poop.” Jade huffed, still disgusted by the idea.

 

“But Jade, this is a tradition!”

 

“Well, Terezi, you’re already doing the human mothering thing, why not try the human tree thing?” Jade asked, Terezi thinking about it.

 

“Ugh, fine! If it means so much to you, but not this tree.” Jade blinked and grinned.

 

“Terezi! That’s a great idea!” Terezi blinked, raising a brow.

 

“What? Not chopping down my tree? Of course it is, that’d be a terrible idea!”

 

“No! We should decorate your tree like a christmas tree! It’d be so much fun!” Jade exclaimed, squealing a little in excitement.

 

“I suppose we could try that… We’ll need Vriska then, as much as I hate to admit it, she’s good at getting around in the trees too.” Terezi mused the idea, thinking it could theoretically be fun. She soon shook her head, dismissing the idea.

 

“No, I want Karina to be able to help me decorate.” She said, stroking her grub.

 

“Well alright, you could do both!”

 

“I’ll do the tree one next sweep, for now, I can ask Vriska to bring a tree for this one.” She said, nuzzling her grub some more, who moved to hold onto her. Terezi smiled as she pulled her phone out to send a quick message to Vriska, while rocking her grub. As she sent the text, Karina let out a soft whine, squirming a bit, before starting to cry. As she did, she started to kick at her mother’s breasts, squirming more as she cried. Her crying not only continued, but started to spurr on Gavin, who started to cry from the noise. Jade frowned and picked up Gavin to soothe him.

 

“Aw, what’s wrong little girl?” Terezi asked, starting to pull her shirt out from the sash tied around her waist, making the assumption she was hungry. Karina screamed out as she kicked her more, squirming.

 

“Mmmmmm!!!!!” She squealed out in her tantrum, Terezi pulling her shirt up a bit.

 

“Keep your horns on! I’m going as fast as I can!” Terezi pouted as she pulled it up above her breasts and moving her grub a bit. As soon as she could, Karina latched onto her mother, holding onto her as she started to drink. Terezi stroked her head, smiling. “Tiny little drama queen, you feel a little hungry and throw a tantrum” Terezi cooed and looked at Jade, who stroked and rocked her own child, calming him down, the sound of Karina’s crying disappearing made him feel better.

 

“It’s okay Gavin, she’s done…” Jade assured, rocking him more.

 

“Terezi,” Kanaya called, holding Rose’s hand, who now wore a wig with painted skin, stuff Kanaya had brought over today.

 

“I’m taking Rose to my hive for a bit, we will be back soon.”

 

“Well why don’t you just stick around and do what you’re going to do here?” Terezi asked brow raised.

 

“Terezi, you know what we’re going to do, I doubt it would be a good idea to do so here…” Kanaya coughed, looking away.

 

“Be back in four hours!” Jade reminded, she didn’t want Rose to be stuck on Alternia with the trolls. It was way too dangerous still. Terezi watched Kanaya lead Rose away, letting Karina keep drinking.

 

“Say goodbye to aunty Kanaya and aunty Rose, Gavin.” Jade cooed, cuddling her baby.

 

“What the hell is an “aunty”?” Terezi asked, brow raised. 

 

“Oh, uh, right, you don’t know about that huh? Well it’s basically the brother or sister of a parent, like Rose is Gavin’s aunt because she’s Dave’s sister! And so is Kanaya by marriage!” She smiled at Terezi. “Though it can be used as an affectionate name too, you know, like aunt Terezi, or uncle Sollux!”

 

“...And uncle is…”

 

“The male version of aunt.” Jade informed, realizing that  _ wasn’t _ common knowledge for them.

 

“So, Vriska could be aunt Vriska?” Terezi asked before snickering, wondering how she’d react to being called that.

 

“I’m sorry,  _ what _ ?” Vriska asked as she opened the door. Terezi turned to look at her, letting out a chuckle. “Oh, god, Terezi put your tits away!” 

 

“Oh shut up, I’m feeding my daughter!” Terezi snapped a little. “Besides, shush, you’re probably scaring my little girl,” Terezi teased, stroking her grub’s head. Vriska looked around for Terezi’s turd stand, putting the tree she had brought on it, fastening it the holder. “Great, now someone should get the decorations from the closest over there.” Terezi pointed to a closet behind Jade, grinning. Jade got up and walked to the closet, pulling the decorations out. Karina squealed and pulled back, reaching for the tree now.

 

“Wow, Terezi… your decorations are pretty bare…” Terezi set Karina down beside the tree, coming over to the bin of lights and few ornaments.

 

“Well I didn’t have a lusus to go get the droppings, why would I have decorations I can’t use? I just started getting a few in the last sweep when Karkat and I had twelfth perigee together.” She started to pull out some lights, following a few different strands. As she did, Karina scuttled closer to Vriska, staring up at her. Vriska took note of the grub staring at her, scoffing at her. Terezi started to focus on this as she pulled the lights out, a bit concerned for what Vriska might do to her grub. Terezi bit her lip as she watched her moilrail lean down, her hand extending to her.

 

Terezi grew immensely tensed when Vriska’s hand got closer to her grub, Karina leaning up to sniff at it. Vriska’s hand instead went to scratch Karina’s head softly, the grub leaning into it. Terezi let out an audible sigh in relief before realizing she was tangled in the lights. Vriska blinked as she noticed before snickering.

 

“Come on Terezi, such a protective troll that you had to watch me? I can at least be civil to my own moirail’s grub!” Terezi glared at her, squirming.

 

“Just get me out of here!”


	18. 12th Perigee

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Meant to upload this four days ago, sorry...

Terezi sat at the table, eating some of the ham from her big dinner she shared with Vriska, Kanaya, Rose, Nepeta and Equius. Rose had decided to stick around for the month, just so she could catch up with her wife and spend her “christmas” with her. Nepeta, Equius and Vriska had plans to return to Equius’ hive after dinner, a moirail’s twelfth perigee, and Vriska was horning in on it. She would’ve spent the time with Terezi, but she was tired of putting up with the crying Karina did every few hours. Under Terezi’s tree, she had a few gifts from others to either her or Karina. There wasn’t anything Terezi was able to get anyone, she wasn’t quite able to leave her hive, she also couldn’t gather materials to make anything for anyone. Hell, she even had a gift from Karkat under her tree, he had sent it through Kanaya, and when Terezi had tried to send him the present through her, she wasn’t able to locate him again.

 

One gift from Kanaya, Terezi was forced to open. Kanaya had gotten her a phone, a small flip phone, with pre charged minutes. Terezi wasn’t quite sure why, but she didn’t want to question it. She had decided that the rest of the gifts would wait until after Karina woke up again, that way she could let her grub tear at the boxes like she definitely would’ve if she had celebrated this holiday. The best Terezi was able to do in return for the gift givers was actually make the dinner, but Terezi felt like it wasn’t enough.

 

Terezi sighed as she stood up, cleaning up the dishes at the table. Dinner had been over for almost two hours, at this point she was just picking at the scraps left on the plate. She figured now would be a good time to clean up before her grub woke up. When she woke up, she’d probably be hungry and she wouldn’t get the chance to do so again while she was awake.

 

Half way through the dishes, Karina started to cry, signaling Terezi to head upstairs and tend to her. Once Terezi was close enough, Karina stopped crying, reaching for her and squealing. Terezi let out a pleased sigh, and lifted her up, nuzzling the needy grub. Karina cooed in reply, holding onto her mother lovingly.

 

“Now that you’re awake, come with mommy,” Terezi told her, carrying her downstairs to her tree. The libra knelt down and set her grub down beside her, smiling as she reached for a gift, checking the label and sliding it closer to Karina. “And open this, little girl!” Terezi smiled and took one of Karina’s claws, putting it on the box. Karina blinked and looked up at her mother. Terezi smiled warmly at her and gently scratched the claw down the box to cut the paper, showing her girl how to do it. Karina looked at the box before starting to tear at it. She squealed as she tore the paper off the box, before sniffing the box, trying to find a way in.

 

Terezi sat back and watched, wondering if her grub was old enough to work her way in on her own. Her question was answered when Karina climbed on top of the box before turning to stare at her mother, squeaking out at her, watching her intently as if trying to communicate to her that she needed help. Terezi chuckled and moved Karina off the box, starting to open the bx for her, setting it back down once it was opened. Karina jumped into the box, wiggling her rump as she fished the stuffed hoofbeast from the packaging. Karina nuzzled up to it, grinning at her mother.

 

“Hey now, that’s not all, there’s more for you here!” Terezi assured, sitting back down to pull another present to her. Immediately Karina lunged at it, starting to tear into the wrapping. Once the wrapping was off, she began to tear into the box like her mother had, trying to follow her steps into getting into the present.

 

After just a little while, Karina had gone through the presents, unwrapping various toys, mostly from Kanaya and Rose who found them online or at garage sales, and from Jade who brought them last time she came by. However, she got a few from Nepeta, along with a few hoofbeast toys from Equius, and one toy hammer that squeaked, from Vriska. Terezi on the other hand, got two new packs of chalk, one normal, and one made of different shades of red. She also got lots of diapers from Kanaya, along with a few things Jade thought she’d like, such as a stroller to take Karina for walks. All that was left under the tree were the presents from Karkat, but Terezi wasn’t sure opening them was right yet. She had hope he might visit them and meet his grub. 

 

Taking a moment, Terezi looked around at the differences of gifts, all of Karina’s had been toys, and almost all of Terezi’s had been things that Karina needed, adult things she could use for the grub. It felt rather, odd for her to see that she was way past being the young troll she had been what felt like a sweep ago. Frankly, it made her feel a bit old. Terezi let out a sigh before leaning down to lift her grub up, nuzzling her.

 

“That’s my girl…” She told her, smiling and giggling at her. Terezi jumped a little, blinking as the phone rang, moving to answer it.

 

“Hello?” She answered, stroking her grub with her other hand.

 

“Hey babe it’s me.” Terezi blinked as she heard Karkat answer, smiling.

 

“Karkat! Hey! Are you, going to come visit us?” Terezi asked bluntly, holding onto Karina.

 

“Well I can’t really fucking do that, now can I? That’s why you have this phone, for this one time I can call.” He leaned back, sighing. “I’m in a phone booth, I want this call to be as protected as possible. No trace to me, or you.”

 

“You mean us, I’m not here alone, dumbass. K-...Our grub is here too!” He quirked a brow with a chuckle.

 

“Wanna tell me the name?”

 

“No.” She said immediately, running a finger through Karina’s hair.

 

“Uh, why not?”

 

“Because you’re not allowed to learn anything about it. Not until you come meet it, I want you to have an incentive to come back, dumbass.” She snickered, Karina blinking and sniffing the phone.

 

“Mmmmmmmmm!” She hummed at it, leaning in a bit when she heard him speak again.

 

“What was that?” He asked, looking around quickly.

 

“Our grub, trying to vibrate, or speak, or, I’m not really sure actually. They grow much faster than humans, mentally I suppose. I think it’s a few weeks from talking, Jade says her son isn’t that close, though I’m not surprised it’s faster than him, it was in my stomach for a shit ton of time.”

 

“Now be honest, it wasn’t really that bad carrying it, right? Nor is it shit to take care of?” Terezi rolled her eyes with a soft huff.

 

“Well it was a really long time carrying it, and I was really weighed down, hell, my feet were sore pretty much all the time, oh and my back was aching much more than usual. I mean it had to support my weight and the grub’s weight. Oh god and I was vomiting and tired all the time, so it was pretty terrible.” Karkat scoffed.

 

“Pretty bad, but not too bad.” He remarked, Terezi squinting her eyes at his attitude.

 

“That wasn’t the worst part of it all. What was terrible, was birthing it. I had to force the grub from my nook after hours of pain!”

 

“Really, it couldn’t have been  _ that _ bad…”

 

“Karkat, imagine pushing a can out of your bulge, after hours of aches and pains in your hips and bulge. Oh and the can you’re pushing out has little limbs too, and horns, and is basically pushing against you as you push it out.” She huffed a bit. “Imagine that stretch.”

 

“Oh, stop. God, my bulge is aching at this fucking imagery. Why the hell would anyone do that? Human or troll!”

 

“Despite that, it was all worth it. I don’t know if you’ll understand until you come back, hell I don’t even understand, but I love this grub, so much. It’s so cute how much it needs me, watching that tired face, or making that face smile, I love the grub more than I thought I fucking could!”

 

“That’s nice Terezi, but really, I don’t have the time for this, I can’t be here too long or they’ll find me in this booth and corner me. Did you two open my gifts?” Lucky for Karkat, he had gotten Kanaya to pick up one present for her, and one from his hive for his child.

 

“No, I thought you might show up so I held the grub off.” She told him, pulling both of the presents closer. “But we can open them now.” She set Karina down on her present. “I taught it to open presents today, loves it!” Karina squealed and started to tear open the presents, Terezi opening her own present while watching her grub climb into the box, blinking and grabbing a plush crab from the box, a bit beat and worn out. She smiled at the present, opening hers up the rest of the way before blinking.

 

“You know I can’t visit, you dumb bitch. Way too dangerous.”

 

“What the hell is this? You gave my child a great present, a gift I’m assuming was yours when you were younger, and you give me, a body pillow.” Terezi watched her grub rub against the plush, sniffing the smells on it already.

 

“It was my favorite actually. And what the fuck, do you not like it? I thought you’d like to feel like someone was laying next to you.” Terezi rolled her eyes before snickering.

 

“You just want me to miss you more so I’ll be happier when you come home.” She snickered and rolled her eyes again.

 

“Listen, Pyrope. I can’t talk any longer, I have to go.” She snickered and brought Karina close to the phone, putting it on speaker.

 

“Wait, wait, I have our grub here, better tell the grub you love them before you go!” He rolled his eyes at this, but complied.

 

“Love you both.” Karina blinked and tilted her head, papping the phone lightly.

 

“We love you too, now go hide, idiot!” She teased, grinning wide. “Bye Karkat.” She told him, hanging up, setting the phone aside, before moving to hug her grub, wiping her eye a bit. “Karina, I know you don’t understand, but this was a very important moment… That was the first time you were able to hear your father, the first time in a long time I’ve been able to talk to him. It was short, but it was great… I miss him, I just hope he’ll be back soon.” She held onto her, nuzzling the young troll.

 

Karina couldn't understand what was going on, but she held onto her mother, just enjoying the closeness of her mother. Terezi held on tight as she felt a few tears slide down her face. She did miss Karkat, more than she remembered. Sometimes she forgot that, that just made the times she thought about it so much harder for her. Obviously she could move on without him, but there was a certain pain she felt, especially since Karina  _ was _ his daughter too.  But that was also why Terezi had to be even stronger, for her. 


	19. Words

Terezi sighed as Karina sat in her highchair, kicking against it. Terezi had mashed bananas all over her face, sighing as Karina laughed, her food dripping down her face. It had been a few months now since she gave birth, and she truly felt like she could do much more now. In the mornings she’d feed Karina her milk, then strap her into her stroller and go for a jog. On return she’d make some lunch and attempt to feed Karina some fruit or something else soft and mushy. A few hours of play, followed by dinner which happened to be something slightly harder for the young grub, such as crackers or cereal. She didn’t have to be as careful, Karina had teeth already.

 

“Come on little girl, eat for mommy…” Terezi grabbed a bowl of mashed potatoes, leaning back down with a spoon, holding it forward for her. “Open up for mommy!” She cooed, Karina giggling before opening up for her. Terezi moved her spoon into the child’s mouth, letting her eat it and pulling the spoon out. “Come on, swallow it…” She urged, Karina staring at her, holding the potatoes in her mouth before spitting them out on the ground, grinning and giggling.

 

Terezi sighed as she set the bowl down and grabbed a towel, cleaning up the mess, bending back up and trying once again. “Be nice to mommy, she just wants you to eat…” Terezi pouted, she wished she could just keep feeding her grub milk, weaning wasn’t easy in any way. Karina wasn’t interested in actually eating, she just wanted to throw all of it on the ground. Some days she just wanted to give in and breastfeed, but she was trying to only do that in the morning, she didn’t want to force her grub to quit cold turkey.

 

“Mmmmmmm!” She whined out, turning her head away from the spoon this time. “Mo…” She kicked a bit, reaching for her mother instead. “Mmmmmm ma… momo…” She squirmed and whacked the spoon out of her hand, reaching for as she struggled to call for her. “Mo… m-ma… ma… Moooo...mmy…?” She whined lightly, reaching more against the chair. “Mooooooooooommy!” She cried out, reaching more for her.

 

“Did… you just…?” Terezi leaned down to pick up her grub, holding her close. “Did you just talk to me?” She asked, smiling at her. She was sure this meant grubs grew faster than babies, Jade said her child wasn’t very close to talking, and that Karina certainly shouldn’t be close at all. And yet, she did. “I’m, sorry I chose such a long, complicated word for you to say…” Karina purred and cuddled to her mother, warming up against her. Terezi held onto her grub, trying to hold back her tears, she couldn’t believe how proud she was of her little grub. She nuzzled the grub, holding her tears back a bit.

 

“Mommy!” She called, enjoying the attention she received the first time. Terezi held on more, smiling wider.

 

“Yes, that’s me!” She replied, kissing the little one’s face. Karina let out a happy squeal as she nuzzled to her mother, holding onto her. Terezi softly smiled and hugged her grub more. She wondered if this was how lusii felt, she didn’t have one to ask, so she just had to assume this was how parents and lusii felt.

 

Karina yawned, looking at her mother with tired eye, rubbing it with her front left claw. Terezi gasped and looked around for a moment, continuing to hold her close. 

 

“Don’t sleep yet grubby girl, mommy wants a video of this…” She said softly, finding her phone and starting up a video. “Okay Karina, say it again, please?” Karina blinked and rubbed her eye again. 

 

“N...m…” She yawned again, her mom sighing but urging again. 

 

“Come on grubby girl, you can do this!” She moved to nuzzle the tired grub, keeping the camera on her grub. Karina leaned in tiredly, grumbling. 

 

“M...Mommy…?” She whined it out a little, squirming a bit, growing tired more and more rapidly. Terezi cut off the video, saving it in a folder, but sending it to Kanaya too. As she at her phone down, Karina started to kick and squirm more, wanting to sleep. 

 

“Okay! Okay, I’m sorry!” She apologized, starting to carry her to her bassinet. Terezi figured she should probably let Karina sleep in her actual crib, but grubs didn't grow much if at all. She'd be able to fit her bassinet all the way until her first wiggling day, in which case she'd make her own recuperacoon anyway.

 

Terezi leaned down to lie her grub down, pulling the blanket over her body, Karina’s front claws holding onto it. She let out a yawn as Terezi began to hum a soft lullaby Kanaya taught her, watching the grub’s eyes flicker and close tiredly. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I feel like it seems weird that she's talking so soon, but I feel like grubs grow fast, mentally and don't learn to walk or use the bathroom until they're past grub stage, which takes awhile, and then they can learn to physically learn things quick due to their increased mental capability.


	20. Wiggling Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karina finally becomes a sweep old, and Terezi runs around, trying to make her grub's first wiggling day a special one.

Terezi rushed around her kitchen, working on a cake for her child. She wore a red apron, something she didn’t wear often, but she really didn’t have the time to change clothes if she got hers dirty. Karina slept in her respite clearly oblivious to her mother’s rushing. Terezi leaned her food up to open her oven door, putting in three separate pans. She closed the door before turning around and grabbing the balloons off the table and starting to blow them up. 

 

Today had been very stressful. When she woke up her grub had entered her next phase of life. She had made and entered her recuperacoon and was changing from her grub form to her trollian form. This meant that once she emerged from her cocoon, she would officially be one sweep old and would have her own recuperacoon to sleep in. 

 

Terezi was clearly excited for that, but this left her to plan the party all on her own. She finally got a straight eight hours of sleep, for the first time in a long time, maybe in the whole sweep. Then she had jumped right into work. So far, she had the cake in the oven, and streamers hanging from a few branches, but there was much more to do. She had to finish hanging streamers, blow up all the balloons, pull out and finish the cake, make a sign, get some stuff ready for her little girl, along with traditional first wiggling day activities. As she blew up a red balloon, she felt pressure against her stomach.

 

“Aunty Terezi!” Gavin cried out as he hugged the troll, Terezi accidentally releasing the balloon, moving to pat Gavin’s head.

 

“Hey Gavin! Where are your parents?” She asked, seeing Jade, Dave and Rose exit the room Terezi had put her teleporter. “Hey guys, thanks for coming.” Terezi had told them when to show up, so they could save their trip for this month.

 

“Our pleasure, so where’s the birthday girl?” Jade asked, looking around for Karina.

 

“Yeah! Where’s Karina? I want play!” Gavin said happily, reaching for one of the balloons to blow up.

 

“She’s… still sleeping.” Terezi sighed out, a bit sad. She hadn’t seen her grub in less than a day, and somehow she missed her. Perhaps it was because she spent most of her waking time looking after and loving the child.

 

“That’s fine, we’re a bit early anyway.” Rose commented, looking around for Kanaya. She slowly spent more and more time on Alternia, staying a month every once in awhile. She had pretty much learned the best ways to maneuver Alternia with minimal sightings, while also looking like a troll.

 

“Just a little. If you’re looking for Kanaya though, she’s at her hive.” Rose nodded and headed to the door. “Tell her to be here in three hours!” Terezi called out as Rose exited the hive, making her way towards Kanaya’s.

 

“And I’ve got the camera you requested.” Dave informed, pulling out a camera from his captchalogue, turning it on after switching the lens.

 

“Sweet! I want to record her wiggling day for her to see in the future, and for Karkat to see!” She grinned as she got up, picking up a few more balloons. “Wanna record for me? I have a lot to do still.” She came to Jade, handing her a balloon before blowing again. Dave started up a video, focusing it on Terezi and Jade. Terezi blew a red balloon as she started to walk towards the oven again, Jade watching her while she blew a green one up. Gavin watched them both as he played idly with a yellow balloon while he father recorded his mother and Terezi. Dave turned the camera to Gavin, leaning down a little.

 

“What’re you doing Gavin?” He asked, zooming in a little.

 

“Blow balloon!” He cried out happily, pushing a bit of air in the balloon, bringing his mouth away to take a deep breath.

 

“Why exactly?” Dave chuckled lightly at him, smiling.

 

“Karina’s birthday!” He said happily, trying again to put air in the balloon.

 

“It’s a wiggling day, Gavin.” Terezi corrected, Dave turning the camera to her. Terezi tied the balloon shut and hit the balloon away. “Trolls have wiggling days, not birthdays.”

 

“Anything to say to your grub in the future, ‘Rezi?” Dave asked, trying to focus a bit on her.

 

“Of course, hi Karina!” Terezi greeted, “Hopefully your father and I are nearby. I want you to know I love you and miss you so much right now, and I’m always proud of you!” Terezi grinned and winked happily at the camera. She soon turned around and leaned down to check the oven, soon moving to pull out the three pans of cake.

 

Dave began to film a few words Jade had to tell Karina about all the help she had given to her mother, even telling her how lucky she was to have such a caring mother. As she did, Terezi put the medium sized cake on the large one, starting to decorate the cake up, Gavin slowly inching closer due to the smell. 

 

Jade spotted her boy trying to sneak a bit, raising a brow. “Gavin, that’s not for you!” He jumped, frowning. Terezi smiled and put the smallest cake on a plate, putting it in front of him, setting down the bowls of frosting around it, turning around to grab some sprinkle shakers,, setting them down for him.

 

“Actually I made him a little cake he could finish up.” Terezi set back to work on her cake for her daughter, while Gavin made himself a mess of a cake, putting frosting all over, tipping the sprinkle shaker directly over the cake, soon moving to frost ‘Happy Wiggling Day Karina’ on it. Terezi moved to quickly grab her streamers, starting to hang them where she could, grabbing a balloon occasionally to blow it up.

 

It took nearly two and a half hours for Terezi to really finish getting the party ready, working hard to make it actually look nice. She was very thankful Jade had been there to help her, she was sure she wouldn’t have finished in time if not for her. As Terezi hung the last streamer, Kanaya and Rose knocked on the door, Jade grinning and heading to the door to let them in.

 

“Hey ladies!” Jade greeted, grinning. “Oh, Kanaya, your shirt is inside out!” She pointed out, snickering. She looked down and blushed a bit.

 

“Thank you Jade, I will fix it in a few moments.” Jade stepped aside to let them in, Kanaya entering and carrying a box to Terezi.

 

“What… is this?” Terezi asked, looking up at her.

 

“It’s a dress for Karina, I tried to take an average size for newly transformed trolls, along with one of the dresses in your closet, and used a stretchy fabric, hopefully then I can get a good measurements for your little grub.” Terezi pulled the top of the box off, pulling out a red dress, holding it up, blinking at it. It was sleeveless, red top, a grey sash around the waist, and a puffy black skirt. Under the dress, sat a red pair of shoes, that appeared rather worn in.

 

“It’s a really nice dress…” Terezi remarked, looking at the shoes. “Wait a minute…”

 

“Yes, those are shoes I found in your closet, I figured they would likely fit your child.” Kanaya smiled at her. “This is basically my wiggling day present to her.” Terezi put the dress back in, closing it and hugging her.

 

“Thanks,” She told her carrying the box to her grub’s respiteblock, setting the box near the pod, checking the time and heading out. “Dave?” She called him over, reaching for his camera. “Can I borrow it? It’s almost time for her to come out, and I want to record it.” She reached more, Dave moving it away.

 

“Why don’t I just come with you?” He inquired, looking down at her.

 

“Because it’s sort of a lusus/troll thing. Except I guess it’d be me, not a lusus. Trolls come out of the coon naked, I don’t know, she might be embarrassed, I just want her to feel-” Dave cut her off by handing her the camera.

 

“I get it. Go on.” He instructed, Terezi carrying the camera to her grub’s respite, closing the door. She looked around and set the camera on the desk, approaching the recuperacoon, sitting back to wait. She only had to wait about five minutes, she missed her grub dearly, she couldn’t wait for her to come out and be with her again. Terezi leaned against a wall, once her daughter was out, she’d help her get dressed, teach her how to walk, which wasn’t very hard for a young troll, they weren’t even used to crawling yet, there was no transition. Then she’d have her cake, followed by her picking a strife specibus and getting a symbol.

 

Terezi blinked as she noticed a little bit of shaking in the recuperacoon, there was a few pushes against the wall of the recuperacoon, clearly Karina trying to break free. Terezi leaned forward, wanting to help her, but soon leaned back. This was a test. Any grub who couldn’t get out of their own recuperacoon was left to die in there, Terezi was sure she could get out, only one percent of grubs couldn’t, and if for some reason she couldn’t, well Terezi would be there still to help her out.

 

In a few pokes, two claws pushed out of the recuperacoon, out of the bottom, the claws cutting a circle, the spot cut being popped out of place. Karina dropped the claws that had originally been her middle claws, pushing her own hands out of the recuperacoon, pulling herself free from the slime. Karina slipped to the ground, Terezi lifting her up and hugging her close, starting to wipe some of the slime off her.

 

“Oh, my grubby girl!” She nuzzled her, kissing her cheek. “I missed you so much…” She admitted, sighing out happily. Karina blinked a little, moving her small arms around her mother, nuzzling back with a soft purr.

 

“Mommy!” Karina closed her eyes as she yawned, blinking them back open quick. “I slept real good!” Terezi pulled back, smiling at her.

 

“Oh, I know, that’s one of those really nice sleeps, in nice, warm slime…” She sighed in the memory of her old recuperacoon. “Anyway… Kanaya made you a present.” Terezi sat her child down, sliding the box to her. Karina opened the box quickly, tilting her head and picking it up.

 

“Mommy? Is this for wear?” Terezi nodded.

 

“It is, I’ll help you into it Karina.” Terezi took the dress and unzipped the back, putting the dress on the ground, making sure it was laid out for her to step in. She lifted Karina to her feet, helping and holding her hands as she helped her walk to the center of the dress. “Now, just stay for a moment…” She told her, lifting the shoulders of the dress up. Karina whined out a little, wobbling a bit and trying to catch her balance. “Careful, little grub” She warned, helping her get her arms into the arm holes, moving around her child to zip it up, tying the ribbon behind her. “Now how does it feel?”

 

“It feel loose!” She patted her shoulders, Terezi lifting the shoulders a bit, trying to see how loose it actually was.

 

“I’ll let Kanaya know then.” She stood up, taking Karina’s hand. “Now let’s try to walk?” She asked, trying to help her move forward. “One foot at a time, left, right, left…” She had tried to teach her a bit about which side was which already, she sort of remembered, but not quite so well. Slowly Terezi moved forward to where she left the shoes, giving Karina a soft tug to help her move forward on her legs.

 

“Feels weird, mommy! I want be on six legs again!” She whined, looking up at her.

 

“Well Karina, you’re on two of them, two of them are now your arms, and the other two, you used to break open your pod.” Terezi sat down, lifting the shoes.

 

“I know, but I want six legs…”

 

“I know, but this is part of growing…” She lifted her foot up a little, “Are you ready for the shoes?” Karin blinked and looked at them.

 

“...No! Not ready!” Terezi sighed and nodded.

 

“Alright, it is a bit fast huh?” She set her foot down before getting up. “At least let me brush your hair before you go out.” Terezi lifted Karina up, setting her in the chair she had in her respite, going to grab the brush off the desk. She had been brushing her hair a bit more lately, trying to keep it nice and neat.

 

“Okay mommy!” She sat up, Terezi leaned in closer, starting to brush her hair softly, humming to her child. Karina closed her eyes and leaned back, listening to her mother as she brushed, yawning again. “Is Vriska gonna be there?” She asked, she had met Vriska a handful of times, and she loved her, she was cool, and smart, and she loved to watch her and her mother interact.

 

“Oh I invited her, but she hasn’t come yet.” She put the brush down, stroking her hair softly before leaning down to kiss her forehead, helping her back to her feet, holding onto one hand. “Now you’re ready” She lead her to the door, opening it for her child. She lead her out, smiling.

 

“Happy wiggling day!” Jade cried out with Kanaya.

 

“Happy birthday!” Gavin yelled out, bouncing happily. Rose and Dave stood beside each other, smiling soft, but staying quiet. Towards the very back, Vriska leaned on a wall, she didn’t like to admit she liked Terezi’s grub, but she couldn’t really be a bitch to the child.

 

“I’ve even made you something I’m sure you’ll like!” Terezi held Karina’s hand tight, leading her to the kitchen, Dave heading into Karina’s room to grab the camera again.

 

“Actually Terezi, wait, we-” 

 

“You.” Dave corrected his wife, looking at her.

 

“Fine. I, got Karina a little present!” Terezi knelt down next to her child, tilting her head. Karina blinked and clapped her hands, making some grabby hands.

 

“Present?!” Karina squealed and watched as Jade walked to the door the teleporter stood in.

 

“I want it to go on record that I think this is a really bad idea.” Dave remarked, looking at Jade, Terezi quickly turning her head to him in alarm. Jade opened the door, a small brown puppy running out of the room, running over to Karina, putting its paws on her. Karina squealed and sat down to play with it, giggling. Terezi raised a brow and stood up, approaching Jade.

 

“Uh, you brought a woofbeast here?” Terezi asked, crossing her arms.

 

“It’s for you! Every home needs a dog!” Jade grinned, Terezi glaring a bit.

 

“Trolls, don’t have pets, Jade.” Terezi huffed and put her hands on her hips.

 

“Well you’re doing the human raising thing, so-”

 

“Stop using that as an excuse! You’re basically trying to turn us into humans!” Terezi crossed her arms now, Jade thinking. She had already bought the pup with another at her house, she couldn’t just take it back.

 

“Oh, well okay.” Jade looked over at Karina who played with the puppy, Gavin joining her to play with the puppy, “Well, sorry Karina, you can’t keep her.” She turned her head quickly, frowning.

 

“What? Why not?” She hugged the dog, pouting a bit.

 

“Do we get keep then, mama?” Gavin asked, stroking the dog’s head.

 

“Well Karina, your mom doesn’t want it. You can thank her.” Terezi whipped her head to look at Jade, glaring.

 

“Wh-what? Mommy? Why?” Karina started to tear up a bit, Terezi looking at her grub and frowning.

 

“W-well, I… We, are keeping it! What are you so upset about?” Terezi really didn’t want to, this wasn’t something trolls do, but she was a sucker for her grub, watching her cry was something she did  _ not _ like to do. Karina gasped and hugged the dog more, setting it down and getting up, slowly approaching Jade while she attempted to keep her balance. Once she had gotten there, she hugged her, then moved to hug her mother.

 

“I told you it was a bad gift.” Dave whispered to Jade, he thought it was a good present, but he knew Terezi wouldn’t like it.

 

“Oh shut up Dave, I bet she’ll like my gift more than yours.” Jade stuck her tongue out.

 

“Yeah right.” He remarked as Terezi took Karina’s hand again, she clearly wasn’t ready to walk alone yet. She could do it, but not easily. Terezi smiled.

 

“I made you this one too, just like I made you all that time ago,” She lifted her grub onto the chair, letting her see the cake.

 

“Ooh! It’s pretty!” She bounced happily, watching the cake. Terezi chuckled and went to her cupboard, looking for a candle. She instead found a small box of candles, pulling out the box, bringing it to the table.

 

“Okay Karina, what color should we use?”

 

“Red!” Karina cried out happily, bouncing more on the chair.

 

“...I’m out of red actually, I have blue, yellow, white, pink-”

 

“Pink!” Karina cried out, giggling and pointing at the pink.

 

“Okay, I’ll put the pink on.” Terezi replied, putting the pink candle on the cake. She went to put her candles away, grabbing a lighter, turning to light the candle and return the lighter. “Go ahead and blow it out Karina!” Terezi grinned at her, bending down a little. Karina grinned and leaned over to blow it out. There wasn’t much for wiggling day cakes, just to put a candle on and blow it out, she wasn’t sure why, but it was some tradition.

 

“I always forget you trolls don’t sing.” Rose remarked, looking at them. “It’s weird to just put the candle in and remove it, without any singing.” Terezi shrugged, removing the candle.

 

“It’s tradition.” She muttered, grabbing a knife. Kanaya leaned over to Rose, whispering to her.

 

“Actually, we do sing, but Terezi doesn’t remember the song most likely…” Rose snickered, smiling. “And she has way too much pride to admit it.” Rose leaned against Kanaya, chuckling.

 

“Sounds about right.” Terezi cut the cake, giving Karina a piece, cutting out more slices for the rest. Karina set out to grab at the cake, eating it with her hands happily. 

 

“What’s planned next?” Jade asked as she dug into her cake with her fork, looking over at her.

 

“Karina gets to pick her sylladex weapon, I have my old set for her to pick from.” Terezi set the cake down, heading upstairs to find her ‘Grub’s first weapon set™’. She brought down a big box, setting it down as Karina finished her cake. Once she saw the big box, she climbed off the chair and ran over excitedly, bouncing happily.

 

“Is this for me?!” She asked, grinning.

 

“It is, you get to pick something from here!” Terezi informed, opening the box up and pulling out a few sets of weapons, bright colored, yellows, blues and greens all over the weapons, they were clearly for a young child. Karina picked up a club, blinking and looking at it. She picked up a cane, it was rather beat up and worn, from when Terezi had been using it. Karina swung it around a little, but put it back down, reaching for a dull dagger, grabbing the second it came with and testing it around.

 

“Do, do we wait for her to finish? Seems like something she should do on her own time…” Dave muttered, watching.

 

“No, it’s tradition to do this after cake.” Kanaya remarked, watching Karina pick up a bow along with a few suction cup arrows.

 

“Mommy? How do I…?” She blinked at her mother, Terezi leaning down to help her pull back the string.

 

“And put the arrow here…” She helped her pull the arrow, into it. “And release!” Karina released her hand, the arrow landing on a wall across the room.

 

“Cool! Mommy I wanna use this!” she cried happily, jumping happily.

 

“You’re not gonna try the others?” She asked, Karina shaking her head quickly.

 

“I like this one!” She giggles and tackles her mother, Terezi lifting her up.

 

“That’s my girl, I’m glad you picked one that you like!” Terezi kissed her cheek, nuzzling her. “Now let’s move on.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's now, also a story to focus on Karkat for the remaining chapters of this, when this story has an update, so will "Last Stance"


	21. Daddy

Terezi’s hands met Karkat’s as she came closer, leaning up for a kiss, but he instead moved in to kiss her himself. She let out a soft coo as she wrapped her arms around his neck, his own meeting together on her rump. She let out a soft gasp as Karkat pulled away from her lips and moved to kiss at her neck. He moved his head away again to open his mouth.

 

“MOMMY!” Karina cried out, running into Terezi’s respite. She groaned softly an opened her eyes. She had her hands wrapped around her body pillow and had clearly been kissing it, again. She rolled it over, leaning up to look at her daughter. Karina held her small hoofbeast plush she held onto a lot, and wore the nightgown Kanaya had made her. Terezi leaned up and rubbed her eyes, looking towards the clock.

 

“Karina, what are you doing awake? It’s still sleep time…” Terezi reminded, sitting up.

 

“M-mommy! I had a bad dreamy!” Karina shivered and reached up for her mother, a big frown on her face. Terezi sighed before smiling at her. She pulled the pillow off the bed altogether and set it on the ground, pulling the covers back and patting the bed.

 

“Come sleep with mommy then.” Karina quickly climbed in the bed, hugging her mother. She had come to her mother’s respite to sleep a few times now, she had a few bad dreams already and her mother always made her feel safe. But a few times she’d only pretend to have bad dreams so she could come sleep in mommy’s nice soft bed with her.

 

“Th-thank you mommy…” Karina snuggled to her mother, trying to ease her mind.

 

“Now, do you feel any better?” Terezi asked, Karina nodding and holding on.

 

“I-I want a story, mommy…” Karina uttered, holding tighter as she pressed herself closer for safety. She knew her mother would protect her from the bad things she dreamt of.

 

“Okay, about what?” Terezi asked, nuzzling her grub as she closed her eyes.

 

“...Well Gavin told me about how his daddy comes home sometimes, and he gets tucked in, and his dad takes him to parks, and he gets to go see his dad perform and…” Karina continued on, she didn’t know that much about the male side of parenthood, she only really knew of it through Gavin, who she really only saw once a month.

 

“Karina, what exactly is it you want to hear?” Terezi had a good idea of where this was going, but she wanted to make sure she was right.

 

“What’s my daddy like?” She asked, nuzzling more to her.

 

“What’s he like? Haven’t I told you what he’s like?” She asked, stroking her back.

 

“No, mommy. Is he nice?” Terezi couldn’t really help but laugh a little at that.

 

“Not really.” She said rather bluntly. “He’s actually rather mean and rude, he doesn’t like being told what to do, and he’s loud, and stubborn, and he has a real temper.” She sighed out, Karina frowning.

 

“...Oh, so he’s not like mommy? Why do you like him then?” Karina asked, wondering if she should actually be afraid of her father.

 

“Hm… Why? I don’t know… Probably because he’s really cute, and he doesn’t let others walk on him, and he can be really sweet to those he trusts and likes. And even though he gets mad at you, you can always tell he’s really caring… And he’ll always be there for you when you need him.” Terezi knew he’d keep his family safe if it came to it, and if anything happened to her, he’d step up and keep their grub safe. “And for some reason, he can still give your mother butterflies when he looks at me in just the right way.” Terezi let out a soft giggle, holding her closer. At least he did when she saw him last. “He also gave me you.” Terezi reminded and stroked her more.

 

“Oh…” Karina wasn’t really sure how she felt about him, her mother made him sound like a good guy, but she also made him sound like a scary guy to mess with. She felt he’d be a bad troll to anger. “How did he give me to you?” Terezi blinked and shook her head.

 

“U-uh, oh! Why don’t I tell you how I met him instead?” Karina blinked and nodded. Maybe hearing a bit more would help her decide how she felt about him.

 

“Well I met him through a game online, I kicked his ass in it, and he got so angry he kept messaging me about it. And this was back when we were four sweeps old, we were both really young, and he made me play with him on a daily basis until he finally beat me a sweep later, and by then, he was someone I talked to the most so we kept in touch and met up once before, something, I’ll tell you about later. And even now, I’ve been a better fighter than him, but I bet by the time he comes back, he’ll be even stronger than me.” It was a decent assumption, he was, probably, sparring and practicing daily, getting ready for probably the biggest fight of his life. And here was Terezi, she had been jogging daily to lose down some of the grub weight she still carried, she had to be thin again to move as quick as usual, she had to be in good shape, and she hadn’t practiced combat in almost two sweeps now, it wasn’t like she had time to do so, taking care of her grub, and maintaining a decent living space for her took pretty much all her time up.

 

“Why did mommy decide to date him? He sounds like he was mean!” She pouted, still very uncertain.

 

“Well, I don’t know, his arguments were really hilarious and pathetic. Things sort of clicked once I met him the second time, I started flushing for him a little bit, and we kissed, and things went really well for a day, oh, he was so embarrassed… It was really adorable actually.” Terezi blushed at the thought, smiling. “But for a bit, it wasn’t good.” She frowned. “Your father started to make me question what quadrant we were in. I thought it had been red, but he sometimes treated me like we were black, and it was, really confusing.” Karina frowned at her mother, nuzzling her to try to make her feel better.

 

“How did you get over it?” Karina tilted her head at her. They had to, her parents were still together, at least she thought they were.

 

“I broke it off with him.” Terezi replied, nuzzling her child back. “And I moved on, he had been so jealous of Gavin’s father for awhile, he had nothing to worry about until we broke up. Shortly after, I started dating him. I had been good friends with him while I was with your father, and he was also cute, and he was cool, he cared about me, he didn’t click with me as much as your father did, but he was still good. I liked him.” Karina blinked at this information.

 

“Wait, mommy dated Gavin’s daddy?” Karina asked, her mother nodding at her. “What happened then? Mommy isn’t with him now, right?” Terezi chuckled and shook her head.

 

“No,  no. He broke up with me. Humans and trolls are different, trolls are okay with their partner having a second quadrant filled out, but that’s not how humans do it. I started dating another troll in the black quadrant, and Gavin’s father didn’t like that so he broke it off with me.” Karina only barely grasped the quadrants, but Terezi had only explained them in short, simple words. She’d leave the details to Karkat. “And then he started dating your father, well the man I was dating wasn’t a good man, he was abusive and hurt mommy a lot.” Karina gasped and held tightly to her. “So why eventually broke up, and it, was hard watching those two date, I, actually really started missing your father, and I was a bit bitter and jealous.” She sighed out, Karina shaking her head.

 

“Mommy’s never bitter though… Mommy’s sweet and caring…” Terezi smiled at her and gave her a big hug. She wanted her grub to think she was a good girl.

‘

“So, they dated for awhile, a sweep or two, and oh was mommy sad. I mean, when we dated the first time, we were basically kids! I didn’t know how much I wanted your father, I loved him…” She smiled. “But they were so happy together, I was okay with letting him go. I was sad, but it was for their happiness. And then, they broke up, because of the distance between them and how often they saw each other. And then, once they did, I actually told your father how I felt about him, and he told me he still loved me too, and, I couldn’t help but get happy and we started dating again.” She kissed her grub’s head. “And here we are.” She told her, stroking her head.

 

“So, mommy’s happy?” Karina asked, yawning a little.

 

“Mommy’s been happy, she has her little grub with her now!” She nuzzled her child, Karina letting out a tired squeal.

 

“M-mommy, not a grub anymore!” Terezi snickered and kissed her grub’s face a few times, holding her closer.

 

“But you’ll always be mommy’s grubby girl!” She cooed and kissed her more, her grub pushing against her a little before accepting it, she did love her mother.

 

“M-mommy… I’m trying to sleep…” Karina whined a little, Terezi raising her brow at this.

 

“Oh? And I wasn’t sleeping when you came in?” Karina frowned a little, nuzzling in. “It’s alright to let me smother you a little, mother is right in the word!”

 

“Mommy, I can’t spell.” Karina said flat, letting her mother continue, trying to get a bit more comfortable as she accepted her mother’s love. Terezi knew very well Karina was ready for her to stop, at any other time she’d be happy to take all the love she could give, but she was trying to sleep, and she wanted to be released. But the way Terezi saw it, if she smothered Karina now, she’d be thinking about it while she slept, not whatever it was that scared her. Once she was sure her grub was dozing off, she backed off and just held her close, closing her eyes and trying to get back to sleep.


	22. Meeting

Terezi looked over at her daughter as she cut up the carrots she needed for dinner. Karina was in her small plastic play house that Dave had given her for her wiggling day, pretending to cook like her mother. Terezi found it rather endearing that her grub pretended to be just like her, doing what she’d do, when she did it. Karina had said that she wanted to be JUST like her mother, Terezi found it adorable, until Karina had told her what it was she thought her mother was like. She wanted to be like her mother, and spend time taking care of her family and hive. While that was basically what Terezi was doing at this point, it just solidified to herself that she wasn’t doing anything she wanted to by this age. She had hoped to be a legislator by now, and instead she was basically a troll’s version of a housewife.

 

Sure, she couldn’t do shit at this point, but she still wouldn’t be able to when times changed. If the revolution failed, she’d spend much more time keeping trolls from her hive and not be able to work, not to mention the system still would be hugely flawed. And if it succeeded, she’d definitely want to spend time with her whole family, and with him being the leader, he’d probably be handed his dream job, leaving her home to raise Karina while he was at work. Her only real chance at having her job would be to put it off and work once her grub, and any other children she had in the future were grown. She had a long life ahead of her, if she waited a bit, she’d have plenty of time to be a legislator.

 

“Mommy? What’s for dinner?” Karina asked, looking up at her from the plastic window. Terezi put the carrots in a bowl, putting a potato on the cutting board, then turning and bending down to look at her through the window. Karina had plastic bread on her counter, holding a dull plastic knife, one that was meant for play.

 

“I’m roasting a chicken tonight, with some carrots and potatoes, something simple.” She knelt down now. “And what are you making?” Karina blinked and looked up at her.

 

“Uh… I’m… making…” Terezi giggled and winked at her.

 

“A meatball sandwich?” She grinned, trying to help her.

 

“...Yeah! I’m making that!” She grinned at her mother, Terezi got up to finish cutting the potato, and to put it with the carrots and chicken. The dog that Jade had given them lied in Karina’s play house, it seemed to enjoy sleeping in it. Karina watched her mother as she turned on the oven, starting to finish the dish.

 

“Karina, why don’t you get your bow? I’ll set the target up while we wait for dinner if you want.” Karina gasped and nodded, running out of the play house and to her room to grab the bow and arrows. Terezi opened the oven while Karina searched for her bow, putting the dish into the oven and closing it, setting a timer. Karina squealed out as she ran back towards the kitchen, letting out a squeak as she slipped and fell, scraping her knee.

 

“M… mom...my?” She sniffled, reaching in her mother’s direction. Terezi whipped her head around quick when she heard her daughter’s choked out words, frowning and coming over quickly, kneeling down in front of her.

 

“What the hell happened?” She asked, moving to wipe her eyes a little.

 

“I-I fell…”Terezi frowned and looked down at her leg, leaning in to lift her up and carry her to the bathroom. Karina held onto her tight, sniffling a bit more as she felt more tears on her eyes. Terezi set her on the counter, moving down to softly lick her lightly bleeding knee. It seemed rather odd for her to lick her child’s knee, but it cleaned the wound and she got to enjoy the yummy taste of red. This didn’t mean she liked her grub bleeding, in fact, she hated it; but she just enjoyed the taste. Once she had given it a clean lick, she went into her cabinet and grabbed a bandage, opening it. Before she applied it, she moved to softly kiss her child’s knee, then put it on. She had told her child if she gave it a quick kiss then put the bandage on, it’d seal in her love and it’d heal easier. It kept Karina from complaining about the quick pressure from applying it.

 

“How does that feel?” She asked, Karina sniffling and leaning forward to hug her mother. Terezi wrapped her arms around the grub, lifting her back up. “Okay… What do you want to do while we wait for dinner?” She asked, figuring she wouldn’t want to practice anymore.

 

“B-but… practice?” She muttered out, Terezi blinking and nodding. She carried her to her bow and set her down, going to retrieve her target.

 

Terezi let out a soft sigh as she carried her grub who had fallen asleep on the couch with her. She yawned out as she did, setting her in front of her recuperacoon on a soft miniature scalemate pile Terezi had made just for her. The way she had had to get in and out of wouldn’t be easy to get her in. She was happy, albeit a bit tired from waking up with her grub. She didn’t remember falling asleep, but she remembered sitting on the couch with her child to watch some movie she picked out.

 

Since Terezi couldn’t get her grub in her recuperacoon, she instead grabbed a blanket and draped it over lightly before leaning down to actually tuck her in. She kissed her grub’s forehead before slowly getting up and walking out. She groaned as she went into her own respite and started to strip down to change. She couldn’t believe how bright it was already, it didn’t feel that late yet. Her shirt came off along with her pants as she headed to her be to get her sleeping top.

 

Terezi stopped in her tracks as she heard a noise come from outside her hive. “Resident of this tree hive. We are on search for a mutant blood in this area. We will need to enter this hive to ensure you have not let him in.” Terezi let out a worried gasp for Karkat’s safety, but tried to covered it up as a gasp of surprise.

 

“Whoa, what? There’s a mutant in the area? How can you feel safe out there with him around!? I’d be worried what he might do!” Terezi couldn’t afford to let him in, Karina’s safety was her number one concern, she didn’t want her grub to be in danger.

 

“Ma’am I just need to come in and search.” He told her again, eyes rolling. These kinds of reactions were rather played out and tiring.

 

“What? No way I’d let you in!” Terezi figured she could hold him off long enough to think of a good plan.

 

“I need to search and see if he’s here!” He argued to her, Terezi huffing a bit and crossing her arms.

 

“And I’m telling you there’s no mutant here!” Terezi yelled down to him, rolling her eyes.

 

“Ma’am, it’s an order to let me in. Refusing to let me in is an offense. And the more you deny me access, the more suspicious you look. Give me, the mutant.” Terezi could tell through his tone alone that he wasn’t playing games, he’d love to turn her in.

 

“I’m in my damn underwear! That’s why I won’t fucking let you in!” Terezi argued back, huffing angrily. “I let you in, I get raped, that’s how it ends up with you higher bloods!” She knew the stories, it happened rather frequently between higher and lower bloods. She watched as a flash moved and slashed the highbloods back, and down he fell. On his back, Karkat stood on him, stomping his foot down.

 

“Terezi! Why the hell are you yelling at him!? Why not fucking kill him!?” Terezi wasn’t so sure he thought any of this through, she was overwhelmed with happiness to see him, but he just killed a troll outside her hive, it would cause investigation!

 

“K-Karkat?! What the hell- Wait a damn minute! What do you mean why!? If he went missing, this would be the first place they’d look if he’s reporting where he’ll be looking!” Terezi couldn’t believe she had to spell this out for him. Maybe she should’ve kept up his ideals and he should’ve given birth, it wasn’t possible, but this all probably would’ve been over with then.

 

“Well… I can, clean this up.” Terezi rolled her eyes as she heard this. If they knew he was around he wouldn’t have the time to ‘clean it up’. “You know, you look a little different…” She blinked at him, huffing a little. She should’ve known he’d judge her body, she wouldn’t keep that figure forever anyway.

 

“Ugh fuck you too okay? I wasn’t going to have a nice perfect figure forever, I gained a lot of weight while I carried the grub, and trying to lose it can be a bitch and a half. I’m still working off the weight okay?” She muttered out, looking away. She wasn’t so happy about it, but she also really didn’t care that much, it really only important for staying faster than an opponent. What she did care about, was that he actually was paying attention to her body like this, did he really care that much about her being thin and sexy?

 

“What the hell are you spewing on about? I was talking about your hair.” Terezi blinked, she hadn’t really expected that. She didn’t think much about her hair, it had grown really fast during her pregnancy, possibly from hormones, and she kept thinking about getting it cut, but Kanaya wasn’t a hair stylist, she made clothes not cut hair, she didn’t want anyone cutting it if they didn’t do it regularly or proved they could. She didn’t want to cut it either, she only actually cut Karina’s hair a few times, it wasn’t too hard, but doing her own hair would probably end badly.

 

“What? Oh, right, I let it grow out a little.” Terezi couldn’t help it, but her hand seemed to go back to play with a lock of hair, she did kind of like it, it was soothing, and she thought it made her look better, she finally understood why the other girls let their hair grow, despite it being a bit of a hazard for fighting, it was nice, and it wouldn’t be that much in the way.  “I was going to get it cut, several times, but it’s just hard. I need to keep a close eye on the grub, and I actually have to do stuff around here, there’s not much time for a haircut.” She also had to think of being there for Karina at all times. “Why, do you, like it?” She figured, if she liked it, she still could find some reason to cut it, but if he said he liked it, she could have even more of a reason to put off cutting it.

 

“Well, it’s pretty sexy I suppose, I think I won’t be able to tell until I brush my hands through it. Also because I’m butt fuck far away from you.” Karkat remarked, Terezi huffing quietly to herself. That wasn’t much of an answer. 

 

“Well maybe if you came and visited your family once in awhile you wouldn’t be!” Terezi wanted to spend time with him again, but she really didn’t want him to come back yet, it really wouldn’t be safe for Karina, and that was the biggest concern to her.

 

“Alright.” Terezi blinked at his reaction, clearly surprised. “Tomorrow I’ll pick you two up and we’ll go on a tour of our base.” She wanted to go, she loved him and really wanted to spend the time with him, but it just wouldn’t be safe.

 

“Karkat, our grub’s safety…” There was a whole lot of ways things could go wrong. They could get tailed on their way there, or back. Or they could break in the base while they were there, or a spy could see them, or any other thing she hadn’t even thought of.

 

“There’s going to be you, and me, and everyone, it’ll be fine! Come on, take a small risk!” Terezi looked away. Maybe she could, even if there was one spy, there would be a lot of trolls there to help defend her and most importantly her grub. Besides, she wanted to see him  _ so _ bad.

 

“Alright, we’ll come!” Terezi replied, grinning down at him happily.

 

“Great, I’ll pick you two up tomorrow, be ready!” Karkat called back, a soft smile on his face. Terezi watched him turn his head in the direction of a sound.

 

“You idiot! You had time to get out of here!” Terezi liked that they had a date, or more accurately a family outing, but he delayed himself too long! She went to pull her cane out, she could be backup for him, or have to fight off any troll that came up here; but Karkat’s hand flew up to tell her not to.

 

“You highbloods will fall when the revolution is over! Just like your friend here!” Karkat yelled, turning to look up at her when he yelled. Terezi tilted her head a bit, not quite sure if he was doing a cover towards her, or if he was yelling at where the noise came from.

 

“I found him!” She heard one of the highbloods call out, gripping her window sill nervously. She watched Karkat run, two highbloods approaching, one running after him. The other ran to his fallen friend, turning him over to try to help him.

 

“It’ll be okay ma’am, we’ll catch him before he can hurt you!” The highblood called as he lifted his friend up, starting to carry him away. Terezi let out a sigh of relief, turning to finally finish getting ready for bed, pulling her night tee on. She noticed Karina stood at the door as she pulled her covers back.

 

“Mommy… you’re being really loud…” She muttered, yawning and rubbing her tired eyes.

 

“Oh I’m sorry Karina…” She came closer and lifted her up, Karina letting out a half tired squeal. Terezi carried her to her bed and knelt down. “Why don’t you sleep with mommy tonight then, I had exciting news for you!” She told her, letting her grub get comfortable, laying down on her own side of the bed.

 

“But… Mommy, I’m tired…” She whined, moving closer to Terezi and nuzzling in for comfort.

 

“But Karina, you’re going to meet your daddy tomorrow.” Terezi told her casually, nuzzling her. Karina whined a bit at her nuzzling but moved to nuzzle back, she did love getting smothered like this.

 

“That’s nice mommy…” Karina muttered, closing her eyes before opening them again and looking at her mother. “I’m meeting daddy tomorrow?!” She asked back excitedly, still tired, but it was covered with excitement now.

 

“Yes, he was outside for a moment, he was why I was being so loud, he’s gone now, but he’ll come back tomorrow!” Terezi told her, kissing Karina’s forehead. 

 

“Really?! I can’t wait! Do I have to sleep!?” Karina asked, Terezi chuckling at her response.

 

“Yes Karina, you have to sleep. It’ll make time feel much faster anyway if you do…” Almost immediately Karina closed her eyes, trying to sleep again. Terezi smiled and kissed her cheek, nuzzling in and closing her own eyes.


	23. Defense

Terezi hummed out as she watered her garden. She was decent at maintaining her garden, but starting it had been hard, mostly because she didn’t do gardening. She only did this as an alternative to going shopping for her grub. She looked up at her daughter, who sat on the wooden swing, swinging a bit back and forth. Karina was dressed in all her best stuff, the dress Kanaya had first given her on her wiggling day, and shiny black shoes. Terezi had even done her hair fancy for her while she did her own. Terezi had curled the ends of her hair, it was something her hair sort of did naturally but for special occasions like seeing her matesprit again after so long, she’d take the time to actually curl the ends. Karina had also requested special hair for today, settling with cute pigtails, tied with red ribbons.

 

“Mommy! Is that him?” She asked her, looking back at her as she slowed down. Terezi chuckled and glanced to her.

 

“Does it look like his picture? With the round horns and red eyes?” Terezi asked, putting the hose down. It was by far the easiest way to describe him since the only other troll that fit that description was Karina herself.

 

“No mommy, he has big pointy horns, and his eyes are purple!” Terezi gasped and pushed open the gate to her garden, running to her grub and lifting her off the swing quick, turning her towards the hive.

 

“Karina, get in the hive, lock the doors, don’t let anyone in unless it’s me or Kanaya.” Terezi told her, kissing her forehead softly.

 

“But mommy-” Karina started, looking up at her. “I can help protect mommy with ar-”

 

“No, now go!” Karina frowned, about to speak. “NOW!” Karina jumped and ran towards the hive’s door, running in quick. Her mother never snapped like that at her, it startled Karina a bit. Terezi didn’t like snapping at her like that either, but Karina’s safety was of the utmost importance. Terezi stood herself up, waiting for the highblood to get closer. The male had long sharp horns, curled inward, purple armor covering his body, and curly hair.  

 

“Where did the young child go.” He asked, glaring at the troll. He was sure she had helped the kid.

 

“If you really think I’m going to tell you where my child is, you’re crazy and idiotic. A mother will do what’s best for her child.” She was sure she remembered Rose saying that at one point. “Now tell me how you found us.” She demanded. She had to know for reference later. Once this troll was killed she might have to sever that link quick. 

 

“One troll that was brought in last night was bleeding out and heard you. He died, but after he told us of a meeting that would take place here. Between a teal broad and the elusive mutant ass. I just happened to find that you’re also the troll they’ve been looking for. The one who will have to carry on the highblood lineage. Once that mutant brat is destroyed, you’ll be taken to a facility where they’ll be breeding you and researching you.” Highbloods really liked to rant, and Terezi really hated it. She was quick to withdraw her cane, clutching it tight. 

 

“Over my dead body. You will NOT hurt my little girl as long as I’m around.” The highblood let out a snicker, withdrawing his mace. 

 

“You have two options. I can either break that pretty little body and then kill the child, or you can let me in and come peacefully.” Terezi let out a soft growl, separating her cane and rushing in.  She slashed at him, his armored arm coming up to block it. As he blocked, she stabbed her cane in his armor gap on his shoulder, pushing her foot against him, ejecting the cane from his new wound and launching herself back. 

 

“You think that hurt?” He asked, winding up his mace. As he did, the chain that attached to his spiked ball seemed to drag out, getting longer and longer. He swung his ball at her, Terezi jumping aside to avoid it. The ball fell into the ground, Terezi moving in. She stabbed her cane blade into the hole of the chain, trying to lock it in. 

 

Karina looked out the window of her room, watching close, holding some of her favorite stuffed animals for comfort, she was very scared her mother would get hurt. She had never once seen Terezi fight, she had no clue how she fought or how durable she was, all she knew was that she loved her mother and that she loved her back. But nothing about fighting. 

 

Terezi gasped as a foot hit her across the face, forcing her back. She let out a cry as she fell back on the spiked ball, her waist scratching against it. He yanked his ball back, dislodging the cane and forcing her body to spin a bit as she fell. His foot came down and slammed her down to the ground, his foot grinding into her back a bit. 

 

“Reevaluate. Will you be good or will I be forced to break every bone in your body until you comply?” Terezi panted out under the highblood, eyes shifting to his other foot, her hands moving to push his foot up, forcing her body up quick to force him to lose his balance. She grunted and forced herself to her feet, turning to slash him across the face.

 

The highblood grunted and moved to hold his face, the slash right across the bridge of his nose. He moved his foot to kick her back, getting up. Terezi caught her footing and held her cane at the ready as he stood up. Once he was up, he moved in, swinging his mace. Terezi raised her cane, catching the spiked ball with it, pushing back against it as he pushed on it. Terezi glared at him, moving to stomp on his foot hard, determination on her face. The highblood let out a chuckle, he was ready for this. He moved and bashed his head into her face, Terezi crying out and losing her footing as she fell back. Her cane flew back, and he swung his mace around her, the ball hitting her in the stomach, the chain wrapping around her. He lifted his weapon, bringing it up, bringing it down behind him. Terezi gasped as she was lifted with it, her body slamming against the ground, crying out loud in pain. He pulled his weapon back, releasing her against the ground and slowly approaching her.

 

“M-MOMMY!” Karina screamed from the window, completely terrified, wishing she could do something for her mother. Terezi grunted and leaned up a bit. She knew she couldn’t handle fighting a royal guard, he had been trained to be the best, and she was a troll who couldn’t spend much time training in the past two sweeps. But something in her kept pushing her to fight, and it pushed her to fight again when she heard her child scream. It was motherly love pushing her. If Karina hadn’t been there, she might’ve given in by now, she knew her limits, but since it was  _ her _ grub, she had to fight for her safety. Terezi pushed herself up more before quickly moving to grab her cane, gripping it and rushing in. She moved as fast as her body could, slashing and swiping her cane fast enough that his reaction could barely keep up.

 

Terezi slashed her way down, moving and sliding her way through his legs, moving up to get on her hand, kicking at his back. He turned quick, dodging the kick reaching and grabbing. Terezi grunted as he grabbed her hair, holding tight. Terezi fell to the ground, her cane halves sliding a bit. She reached to try to grab for her canes, crawling for it. The highblood yanked back, forcing her back against his legs. Terezi panted out as she sat in front of his legs, trying to pull herself away. She knew her hair would hinder her, and she didn’t do anything about it, how could it turn on her like this? If she could reach her cane, she could free herself, but it was too far out of reach.

 

“I’ll give you one last chance. Will you finally submit to the better of us?” He asked, Terezi growling out.

 

“I will never give in to you! You’ll hurt my child, there’s no way I’ll let that happen!” She tried to pry his hand off her hair, grunting as she tried. He gripped her hair tighter, putting a tighter strain on it, raising his mace. Terezi jumped and raised her arms up as an attempt to shield herself from the hit.

 

Terezi didn’t feel a hit, but she did feel a splatter. Her eyes opened, her hair being released. She slowly glanced up, a bit of purple blood dripping onto her face, a chainsaw ripped through his stomach. She had been so concentrated that she didn’t hear Kanaya’s chainsaw rev up. Kanaya fought through some resistance but pulled up a bit to force it through his torso and out his left shoulder. Terezi gasped and moved quick as his body fell forward, Kanaya kneeling down to help Terezi up.

 

“Terezi! Thank god you’re okay, you did a good job keeping him distracted, you made a perfect opening for me!” Terezi smiled at her before stumbling from the pain. She had been so driven she didn’t realize how much everything hurt. Kanaya leaned in to catch her, chuckling and helping her to her lift. 

 

Karina ran to the door at the lift, waiting for her mother worriedly. Kanaya pushed the button to call the lift, helping Terezi onto it and pushing to raise it, patting her back softly in support. Terezi pushed open the door as soon as the lift was at the top, the sight of her grub safe and sound drove her, she moved in quick and leaned down to hug her child despite the pain that accompanied it.

 

“Karina! Oh my god! You’re safe!” Terezi cried out, hugging her tight, keeping her close happily. She loved her dearly, she was so happy her child was safe, it really put her at ease. “You’re okay, right grubby girl?” She asked, holding her tighter.

 

“M-mommy… I-I can’t breathe!” Terezi quickly drew back a bit, she sometimes hugged Karina too tight, and from their height, Karina’s face was always between her mother’s bosom and her mother’s shoulder, sometimes it was a bit hard breathe. “Y-you’re the one who’s hurt, a-are you okay?”

 

“I’m just fine, knowing you’re safe is what’s keeping me going.” Terezi told her girl, holding her close.

 

“Terezi I would recommend you lay down or something, you’re losing a lot of blood, don’t put so much strain on your body.” Kanaya reminded, patting her head. “I’ll even watch Karina for you so you can rest properly.” Kanaya offered, smiling happily at Terezi.

 

“Well… I suppose I should… Alright.” Terezi turned to look down at Karina. “I’m going to take a small nap, now.” She started to smoothe Karina’s hair a bit. “Be the good girl I know you can be.” Terezi told her, kissing her forehead. Karina gave a nod and watched her mother get up and walk to her respite. Karina blinked and turned to Kanaya after her mother was out of sight.

 

“So what do you want to do Karina?” Kanaya asked, kneeling down beside her. Karina looked at her mother’s door then back at Kanaya.

 

“I wanna go lay down with mommy, I’m worried!” Karina pouted, Kanaya frowning.

 

“No Karina, she needs to relax.” Kanaya gently stroked her cheek, smiling at her.

 

“But… I want to relax with mommy…” Karina told her, Kanaya shaking her head.

 

“Let her rest. Why don’t you play in your play hive?” Kanaya suggested, turning to start clean up the blood Terezi had leaked on the floor. Karina sighed and nodded. “Okay aunty Kanaya…” She slowly walked to the door of her hive, opening and closing it before sneaking off to her mother’s room.

 

Terezi glanced at the door as it opened slowly, Karina coming to the side of the bed, leaning up to put her hands on the bed. “Mommy? Can I lay with you?” She asked, Terezi chuckling.

 

“Of course, Karina.” Terezi moved over a little, Karina climbing in next to her. Terezi wrapped her arms around the small child, nuzzling her happily. Kanaya quickly opened the door, frowning.

 

“Karina, I said no, come on, let your mother sleep!”

 

“No, no it’s fine Kanaya. I’m much more at ease, if she’s in my arms I know she’s safe.” Terezi replied, smiling as she held her child close.

 

“But Terezi, she can’t just pick and choose what to listen to.” Kanaya reminded. It’d be the same as picking which laws to follow.

 

“Kanaya, I’m her mother, it’ll be fine, don’t worry too much about it…” Kanaya sighed and backed up a little.

  
“Well… Alright Terezi, I suppose… You know what to do…” Kanaya wasn’t really sure this was a good idea, but Terezi could be stubborn, and Karina  _ was _ her daughter. She couldn’t decide how Terezi would raise Karina. Kanaya just closed the door again, slowly walking down the hall. Terezi held her child, slowly drifting to sleep, wondering if Karkat would be here to pick them up by the time she woke up. She had nearly forgotten about that, things had gotten so difficult from the attack. 


	24. Reunion

Terezi brushed Karina’s hair softly, yawning. She had done a lot of sleeping in the past day, she felt much better, aside from being a little groggy. She had no clue what had happened to Karkat, but when she woke up this morning, Karina was upset he hadn’t shown up. She was still upset, but she always felt a little more calm when her mother took care of her like this. Terezi set down the brush and stroked her hair a bit with her hand idly.

 

“Okay Karina, how do you want it today?” Unlike Terezi, Karina actually liked her hair put up in different ways, Terezi even had to watch a few videos to figure out how to do different styles for her little grub. Terezi just wore her hair the same way all the time, with the exception of her hair growing longer.

 

“I...want… down.” Karina decided, wiping tears from her eyes. Terezi frowned and leaned down, hugging her tight. She was going to kill Karkat for hurting Karina this way.

 

“It’s okay grubby girl… I’m sure something just came up…” Kanaya smiled and leaned down.

 

“Or he just wants to make sure you’ll be safe.” She added, trying to help. She knew that a large fight had happened yesterday. She walked past the fight on her way over, and rushed herself towards Terezi’s to make sure she was safe. However, Kanaya had confidence Karkat was fine.

 

“B-but… What if he d-didn’t want to see me?” Karina asked, sniffling a bit. Terezi hugged her closer, shaking her head.

 

“No! He wouldn’t, I’m sure he’s excited to see you!” Terezi wasn’t sure if that was completely true, but she wanted to comfort Karina, not hurt her. 

 

Terezi lifted her head as she heard the sound of hooves hitting stone, a path not too far away, fade into quietness. There was no path actually leading to her hive, so the hooves dissolving very well could’ve been the hoofbeasts Tavros raised for Karkat’s revolution. Terezi leaned up away from Karina, Karina moving to clutch her again. Terezi sighed and held onto her, lifting her with her as she leaned to look out the window. Her eye widened as she saw Sollux riding towards her hive, a small bag on his shoulder.

 

“I-is that him?” Karina uttered, looking up at her.

 

“No, it’s his moirail and closest helper.” She stroked Karina’s head softly, watching for a moment. “Maybe he’ll take us to him?” It was a reasonable guess she supposed. Terezi headed to the door to her lift, waiting for Kanaya to join her. Once she had, she pulled the lever, letting it go down to him. She quickly stepped off the lift, Sollux riding closer and slowing down, hopping off the hoofbeast.

 

“Whoa, Karina, is that you? You’ve gotten so big.” Sollux remarked, leaning down. Karina tilted her head, she didn’t remember him at all. Sollux was actually a bit surprised, after a while all the days just seemed to blend together, he didn’t realize how long it had been since he last saw her. He still had pictures of her on his phone even.

 

“Daddy’s moirail?” She asked, looking at her mother, not sure how to respond to him. “You know me?” She looked at him, but her eyes wandered to his hoofbeast, she loved them so much, Terezi didn’t even understand it.

 

“Of course, after you were born, I was the first one after your mother to see you.” He leaned down to pat her head. “You were still a newborn when I left.” Terezi looked away for a moment, looking back up at him after.

 

“Sollux, what about my matesprit? Where the hell is he?” Terezi huffed, releasing Karina finally. Sollux sighed and pulled out a long package, something wrapped up in a cloth. He handed it to her, Karina moving to touch the hoofbeast, stroking the side.

 

“It, was… his.” Sollux muttered, watching her. Terezi raised a brow, looking at it a bit.

 

“I see he bled on this thing.” She muttered, noticing the red spot at the bottom. She slowly began to unwrap it, freezing up as she saw its contents. It was an arm, and from the blood at the bottom meant it was probably Karkat’s. Terezi felt a wet sensation on her cheeks, her hand coming to wipe her tears away, holding the arm close. She didn’t want to believe he was dead, but she couldn’t hold it in. Slowly she fell to her knees, clutching the arm tighter as she really began to cry, sobbing a bit at the thought of him being gone.

 

Terezi was a strong troll, but even some things could break her heart. It broke her, knowing how close she was to seeing him again, how close he was to being with them, how hard Karina would take it, how much he must’ve suffered if she only got his arm. She didn’t know how to even tell her daughter that the father she wanted to meet was gone.

 

“Mommy? What happened?” Karina didn’t understand what broke her mother, but she didn’t like this. It was unexpected and scary, she had seen her mother cry only two other times, both times she was hugging a picture frame, and Karina wasn’t supposed to be awake so she could never help her. This time though, Karina approached her mother and hugged her, trying to help her. Terezi remained unphased by this, far too upset to be affected. Kanaya wiped some tears from her eyes, trying to keep her composure. She didn’t want to make matters any worse than they already were.

 

The sound of hooves hitting stone was audible again, slowly coming into existence, growing louder until it stopped again. Terezi lifted her head in hope, watching as a hoofbeast approached, trying to see who was on it.

 

“SOLLUX!!” Terezi stood up quick at that voice. It was definitely Karkat, and hell was he pissed.

 

“Karkat?! Karina, it’s daddy!” She told her happily, dropping the arm to wipe her eyes of tears. Karkat skid the hoofbeast to a stop, climbing off it, being quickly met by Terezi, who hugged him tight, leaning up to kiss at his face a few times, overwhelmed with happiness and relief after what Sollux had tried to pull. Karkat wrapped his one arm around her, glaring at Sollux. Karkat had bandages around his torso, to hold the bandages on his shoulder in place, his blood slowed from Feferi, his wound would just need to recover and scar over.

 

“Sollux! I fucking told you not to do that! I told you it wouldn’t be a good idea to shit on their feelings!” Karina blinked and moved closer to her father before hugging his side tight. She wasn’t sure if he was going to love her, or if she’d love him, but she finally had a father, she wanted the experience she heard from Gavin of having two parents. Karkat blinked and looked down at the small girl, he had no more hands to use for hugs, or even the pat the child, not with Terezi clinging to him like this. 

 

“Aw, I’m sorry grubby girl.” Terezi pulled back from Karkat to lift her up, Karina hugging Karkat from higher now. Karkat slowly moved his arm to wrap around his daughter, leaning into it.

 

“We-welcome home, daddy…” Karina greeted, still a bit scared of the stories her mother had told her. This was completely unmarked territory. The only thing that kept her fine was that even if her father was a horrible troll, she knew her mother would stop at nothing to keep her safe and loved.

 

“Damn… Never expected you to be so cute…” Karina looked up at him with happiness filling her eyes. Maybe he would be a good father, and she could trust being around him like she did with her mother.

 

“Karkat, meet your daughter, Karina Vantas.” Terezi introduced, slowly moving in to try to wiggle under his arm to join them. “She’s named after you, sort of, well it was inspired by your name.” Terezi added, letting out a soft, happy purr as she leaned against him, her hand stroking Karina’s hair softly.

 

“Da...daddy?” Karina asked, looking up at Karkat. “What… happened to your arm?” Karina asked, looking over at his shoulder.

 

“Actually yeah, what the hell did happen? You’re not dumb enough to just let Sollux cut your arm off for a prank.” Karkat groaned and shook his head.

 

“The Condesce ripped it off.” He said bitterly, looking at Terezi. Karina looked at her mother, tilting her head.

 

“A very bad troll, Karina.” She clarified for the small child. She reached to lift Karina up in one arm, moving to take Karkat’s hand.

 

“But, since you’re back, why don’t you come in and I’ll make you your favorite food.” Terezi urged, gesturing to Kanaya and Sollux to join them as she went to lead her family inside. Things were finally going to get better. She had Karkat back, Karina had a father, and the world wouldn’t hurt her child over blood finally, she could relax now, maybe help the population reproduce a bit with the help of the humans, and enjoy the healing of the world.

 

Karkat however, though torn over the loss of his arm, he’d go to see Equius in hopes of getting a robotic arm in the next few days. He could live with this scar, but just trying to hug his family was hard, it would be ten times harder to do any sort of job he wanted. Especially with how ruthless their society would be while times changed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading c:


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